Traveling The Road Less Taken
by TwentyFirstCenturyHippieChick
Summary: Twins Trixie and Trent Miller move to Degrassi all the way from Tennessee; watch their new lives, friends, and situations unfold.
1. Default Chapter

TRAVELING THE ROAD LESS TAKEN  
  
BY AMY REYNOLDS   
  
CHAPTER ONE: SO COMPLICATED  
  
A/N: This is set when Paige, Ash, and the rest are in Grade 11; I do not own anyone from   
  
Degrassi, I only own Trent, Trixie, and any other characters in relation to them ;)  
  
"Degrassi Community School" the sign in front of her said; well, it was now or never...  
no possible way of going back now...  
  
With a deep intake of breath, she ascended the steps to the school to slowly start her new  
life here in Toronto. Her family had moved to Canada from Tennessee in the US because   
her mother's job had transfered her there and now she and her brother had to make new   
friends.  
  
Her twin brother Trent looked over at her and saw her nervousness, "Trix, don't worry so  
much, it'll be fine," he tried to assure her, though he had his own concerns and doubts.  
Trixie brushed her fiery red curls out of her eyes and looked skeptically over her chestnut-  
haired twin, "And YOU'RE telling ME this?"  
Trent laughed a little, his brown eyes meeting her contrasting green ones, "Fine, we're both  
nervous, happy?"  
Trixie nodded with a laugh, "Yes, very!"  
  
They checked their schedules and noticed that they had first period together, which was a  
good thing; maybe they could actually get used to all this before having to leave the security  
of knowing at least ONE person in the school.  
  
There were lots of computers lined up in their first period class, something like a Web  
Design class they'd had at their old school.  
  
So they just chose a seat and sat down, trying to keep themselves from seeming too nervous about all the curious stares they got as the other students came into the room.  
  
Ashley Kerwin and Paige Michaelchuck saw two new students as they went in to get their seats; curious, they looked over them casually, trying not to seem rude.  
  
"I wonder who they are?" Ashley asked Paige.  
"I have no idea," Paige replied, "but they've gotta be in Grade 11."  
  
The bell rang and everyone took their seats, Mr. Simpson coming in and Spinner Mason trying to sneak in behind him and not be caught being late.  
  
Without looking behind him, Mr. Simpson said, "Mr. Mason, please take your seat and don't let that happen again, it's the first day back for pete's sake."  
  
Spinner felt a bit silly and everyone giggled a little when he said, "Sorry, Mr. Simpson..."  
  
"Alright, well, I hope you all had a good break 'cause we're starting fresh today!" Mr. Simpson said cheerfuly, causing everyone to groan slightly at the thought of work on the first day back. "But first," he interrupted the groans, "we have a couple of new kids here at Degrassi, and I'd like for you all to meet them."  
  
Everyone peered curiously at the two new teenagers, who looked incredibly shy about him making that announcement.  
  
"Guys, this is Trixie and Trent Miller; they're twins, fraternal twins, and have moved here all the way from Tennessee," he said with a smile to the two. "Wow, Tennessee; horse capitol I hear!" he said cheerfully.  
This guy seemed pretty nice, Mr. Simpson, so Trixie didn't want to be rude by not speaking, "Pretty close, I guess, there are a lot of them down there."  
  
Jay was sitting in the back with his girlfriend and started snickering when he heard her accent; it wasn't as southern and exaggerated as he'd heard in a bunch of movies, but it was nothing like the accents you were used to hearing at Degrassi.  
  
Ashley turned around and glared, Paige doing so as well.  
  
Trixie heard that snicker and through her down-peering eyelashes could see Mr. Simpson giving the guy who'd snickered a look.   
  
"Well ah, did you guys ever own any of your own?" he asked cheerfuly, obviously trying to be optimistic.  
  
Trent had heard the snicker as well and decided to speak up for them this time, "One, but she died a couple of years ago."  
  
Neither of the Millers sounded THAT southern, but they had a certain bit of it and it was somewhat more noticeable than these people's were.  
  
"Oh, well that's too bad..." Mr. Simpson nodded sympathetically, catching Jay in the back silently laughing at the two in the back, but not wanting to embarass them, didn't say anything. He'd see him after class...  
  
Class went on as scheduled and when the bell rang, everyone left except Jay, who was cornered by Mr. Simpson and asked to stay behind.  
  
Trixie and Trent were on their way out the door when a girl with blonde hair and light colored eyes came up beside them, "Hey, Simpson's a drag, huh?" she asked casually.  
Trent replied, "Eh, the class is..."  
"He seems alright, though," Trixie added with a small smile.  
Paige smiled back, "He is pretty cool, for a teacher; Paige Michaelchuck," she introduced herself.  
  
The guy called Spinner who'd been late for class caught up to her and goofily put his arm around her, causing her to laugh.

"And this is my boyfriend, late boy Spinner Mason," she said through her laughter.  
"'Late Boy'? Is that my new nickname or something?" Spinner asked almost increduously.  
Paige grinned, "If the shoe fits, honeybee," she replied innocently. "So what do you guys have next?" she asked the twins.  
  
They showed her their schedules; turned out Trent had Mrs. Kwan with her this next period.  
  
"Okay Trent, you've got English with me," Paige said, taking his arm and guiding the way, "see you guys at lunch!" she called back after Spinner and Trixie.  
  
Spinner looked jealous for a second, but knew Paige wouldn't let her affections for him go; he looked over to Trixie. She was kind of cute, you didn't see many like her there, "What've you got next?" he asked her in a friendly voice.  
"Bio," Trixie replied.  
"Ah, Mrs. H... wait, you're in Grade 11, aren't you?" Spinner asked, seeming confused.  
"Yeah, but I failed it at my old school, so I gotta retake it here," Trixie replied.  
"Oh, okay; some of Grade Ten are pretty cool, but the rest, eh... just watch out for Liberty!" he joked, then asked, "Want me to show you where you go?"  
"Sure, if you don't care or anything," Trixie replied shyly. This guy was cute, but she HAD to remember that he had a girlfriend.  
"Oh no, I don't mind!" Spinner replied, showing her how to get there from where they were. She thanked him and went inside to take a seat, not really looking at anyone or anything until she got a desk a bit secluded from the rest of them.  
  
More curious stares were what she got as people came into the classroom; 'Great,' she thought to herself, 'I can't wait til lunch...'


	2. I Fell

CHAPTER TWO: I FELL  
  
Paige led Trent into Mrs. Kwan's English class and got him a seat with herself  
  
and her friends Terri MacGreggor and Jimmy Brooks.  
  
Jimmy and Terri were in conversation until they saw Trent with Paige and each gave  
  
her questioning looks all the while smiling politely to him.  
  
Paige smiled as she introduced them, "Guys, this is Trent Miller, he and his twin Trixie,  
  
who's not in this class, moved here from Tennessee. Trent, this is Jimmy Brooks and  
  
Terri MacGreggor."  
  
Jimmy reached up and shook his hand in a friendly way, "What's up? So, how do you   
  
like Degrassi so far?"  
  
"It's alright, friendly people anyway," Trent replied with a small smile as he sat down.  
  
Jimmy nodded as Paige sat next to Terri, "Yeah, Paige loves to be the first to introduce  
  
ANYONE to Degrassi just about," he laughed a bit as he said this.  
  
While the guys were in conversation, Paige giggled and spoke quietly to Terri, "Isn't  
  
he a cutie?"  
  
"Yeah, he's kinda cute," Terri confessed.  
  
Paige smiled, "He's sweet; I talked to him on the way to class and he talked about how  
  
big this move was and how much him and his sister miss home and everything."  
  
She then realized that Terri wasn't paying attention to her and noticed that her under-  
  
handed gaze was turned to Trent; awww, that was cute, but she wasn't going to say   
  
anything about it just yet, for the bell had just rang and Mrs. Kwan walked in.  
  
"Hello class, I'm assuming we all had a good vacation?" she asked with a kind smile.  
  
Some people nodded, most people just sat there.  
  
"Well that's good, now, can anyone tell me..."  
  
While Mrs. Kwan began with her lecture, Jimmy passed a note he had written to Paige,  
  
who took it and opened it in her lap:  
  
"I think Trent likes Terri, he couldn't stop sneaking glances at her earlier."  
  
Paige smiled to herself and discreetly wrote back:  
  
"I think it's the same with Terri, I saw her eyeing him up, too."  
  
This went on for a little while longer before Mrs. Kwan stopped talking and looked to   
  
the two, "Paige, Jimmy, is there something that you'd like to share with the class?"  
  
"Uhm... no, Mrs. Kwan," Jimmy replied sheepishly.  
  
"Then I suggest you put that note away and pay attention," she said in a hurried tone   
  
and started talking once again about the subject.  
  
Both Paige and Jimmy were relieved that she hadn't taken the note up and Paige ripped  
  
it to shreds so no one would ever read it and embarass Trent and Terri.  
  
In Trixie's Biology class, she wasn't having as much luck as Trent seemed to be having;  
  
she was alone and trying to concentrate on Mrs. H. so as to divert her attention away from  
  
the immense loneliness she was feeling right then.  
  
But then as if someone upstairs knew how she felt, something fell into her lap; a note...  
  
She looked into the direction that it had came from and saw two guys, one with glasses   
  
and a Jewish nose and another with longish, brown/blonde streaked hair. Not being able  
  
to decide which one it came from, she opened it discreetly so it wouldn't be taken up:  
  
"Hi, you must be new here. I'm JT Yorke, what's your name?"  
  
'JT... hmm, must be the one with the glasses,' Trixie said to herself as she scribbled in  
  
reply:  
  
"I'm Trixie Miller; yeah, I moved here from Tennessee."  
  
Mrs. H. came through her isle, so she made sure to keep the note hidden until she went   
  
past, then tossed it lightly to the boy with glasses. He saw it and tapped the guy in front  
  
of him on the shoulder.  
  
"She replied," Toby Issacs whispered to his best friend as he handed him the note under  
  
the chairs.  
  
JT took the note and read it; after reading it, he wrote:  
  
"Tennessee? Wow, that's a long way. I bet you miss your friends back home."  
  
JT handed it back to Toby and Toby rolled his eyes, almost tired of being messenger-boy;  
  
he gently tossed the note into Trixie's lap and she read JT's reply and wrote her own:  
  
"Yes, especially right now... but oh well, I guess I'll get used to it."  
  
Once again, the note got tossed to Toby and he delivered it, JT reading her response just  
  
as Mrs. H. said, "Okay, well, it looks like we have some spare time, so you may quietly  
  
talk until the tone sounds."  
  
JT then turned in his seat and smiled to Trixie, "Eh, you will; you'll make a lot of new  
  
friends here."  
  
Trixie smiled back, "I hope," she replied, adjusting her glasses a little bit.  
  
"This is Toby Issacs," JT introduced the guy with glasses.  
  
"Hi,Toby; sorry I had to keep using you as a tossing net," she said sweetly.  
  
"It's okay, I've been used for worse," he replied, giving JT a look.  
  
"What?" JT asked innocently.  
  
Trixie giggled as a tall girl with blonde hair and brown eyes walked up.  
  
"JT, it looks like you've made a new friend," she said with a smile to Trixie, "hi, I'm Emma  
  
Nelson; seems you've already met the class clown."  
  
"I'm Trixie Miller; oh really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at JT.  
  
"Well, kinda... there's nothing wrong with making people laugh is there?" he asked.  
  
"No, it's actually good when it's needed," Trixie replied in support for her new friend.  
  
JT bowed, "Thank you, M'Lady," he said.  
  
"Are you in Grade Ten?" Emma asked.  
  
"No, I'm in 11th grade, I failed this course at my old school," Trixie replied.  
  
"You're a Grade 11?" Toby asked in amazement.  
  
"Yep, that's me," she smiled shyly.  
  
JT blinked as if he had been caught in a pair of blinding headlights; another older woman...  
  
wasn't that his luck?  
  
"Well, we probably won't see you in any more classes, will we?" Emma asked.  
  
"Probably not, but hey, there's always the halls and lunch," Trixie replied optimistically.  
  
The tone rang and then it was time to switch classes once again. 


	3. No One Told Me

CHAPTER THREE: NO ONE TOLD ME  
  
It turned out that Trent and Jimmy had the next class together, so they headed that  
way and met up with a couple of other guys who would be in class with them, Craig Manning  
and Marco DelRossi, as well as Jimmy's girlfriend Hazel Aden. Jimmy had explained to Trent   
that Marco was gay, but not to make any trouble with it or anything if he had a problem with it   
because he had been through enough with Spinner last year.  
  
"Guys, this is Trent Miller, he's from Tennessee and he's got a redhaired twin sister running  
around here somewhere," Jimmy introduced, "Trent, this is Hazel, that's Marco, and that's  
Craig."  
  
They all exchanged friendly hellos and walked into their classroom, Jimmy grinning to Trent.  
  
"I think Mr. Miller here has a crush on our very own Miss MacGreggor," he said quietly  
to the small group.  
"Aww, that's so sweet," Hazel said, touching her heart.  
Trent got a little shy when Jimmy nudged him on the shoulder, "Ya do, don't ya?"  
"Kinda..." Trent shrugged, trying to pass it off.  
"Look at him, they're almost a perfect match!" Craig said with a spontaneous laugh, "they're both like, shy."  
"Well yeah, but there's no telling how Terri feels about this, and there's still Rick we gotta  
watch out for," Jimmy added.  
"Who's Rick?" Trent asked, ultimately confused.  
"Her psycho ex that abused her and put her in the hospital," Hazel replied, "that had Paige   
and Spinner torn up for the longest because they thought it was their fault."  
Jimmy scoffed, "Yeah, and I'd still like to get my hands on him..."  
  
Boy, Trent had a lot to think about; not only Terri, but Terri's ex. With that kind of experience, there was no telling what she'd say if he ever DID ask her out...  
  
Emma walked beside JT to their next class and nudged him with her elbow and a smile, "JT, you seemed awful taken with Miss Trixie..." she said in a sing-song voice.  
"What? You're seeing things, Emma," JT replied, trying to brush the subject off.   
"I'm only seeing what's as plain as the cowlick you have," Emma said, causing JT to start trying to smooth down his hair, "just admit it, you kinda like her."  
"Kinda like who?" her boyfriend Chris Sharpe asked as he put his arm around her.  
"This new girl in Grade 11, her name's Trixie Miller... she's got flaming red curls, big green eyes..." she said with a grin, knowing she was getting to JT.  
JT turned to her, "Okay, so what if I DO kinda like her? She's a GRADE 11!"   
"So? JT, you never know what might happen..." Emma replied as she and Chris went to  
their next class.  
  
JT sighed and shook his head and waved to Paige as she passed with Ashley.  
  
"So, what do YOU think of Trent?" Paige asked her friend.  
"He's cute... very cute, actually," Ashley replied in her quiet way, then smiled, "what, have  
you been asking every girl in Grade 11 that?"  
"Well, not everyone..." Paige tried to act innocent, but she and Ashley burst into a fit of  
giggles.   
  
Toby, meanwhile, was walking with Trixie and talking to her.  
  
"So your mom's with an insurance agency?" he asked her.  
"Yeah, and pretty much she got transfered up here for her work rather than staying down   
there," she replied.  
"Well, I gotta go right here, but I'll see you in class tomorrow," Toby said with a friendly  
wave.  
"Bye, Tob," she replied with a small smile, walking on and bumping straight into someone,  
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said politely, but was met with a snicker.  
  
She looked up and saw that it was the guy that Mr. Simpson had held back at the end of  
class... the guy who had snickered at her and her brother.  
  
She tried to go around him, but he stood in her way, "Hey little miss farm girl, why don't  
ya watch where you're goin'?"   
"I said I was sorry, now will you please move?" she asked, her voice raising a little bit.  
Jay just laughed, "Man, you really crack me up, you know?"  
Trixie glared at him hard, "Please just move asside," she said through clenched teeth.  
  
Yet again, Jay only laughed, about to say something else when a voice from behind him   
spoke up.  
  
"Yo, Jay, back off," a guy in a grey hoodie said in a deep voice, then looked to Trixie.  
"Hey Sean, you ought to hear this girl, she's a riot! Come on, Farm Girl, say something!"   
Jay taunted.   
  
Trixie refused to speak and tried to go around, but once again Jay blocked her path.  
  
"Hey, I said say something," Jay repeated.  
Sean rolled his eyes, "Jay, let it go."  
Jay looked at him like he was crazy, then to Trixie and rolled his eyes, moving asside so she could go.  
  
Tears sprang to Trixie's eyes as she walked along, but she swallowed them down; oh how she wished she were back home.  
  
"Hey, wait up!" a voice called after her. She didn't have time to wait, she was almost late  
for her next class thanks to that fucking jerk back there.  
  
After a moment, someone was by her side; the grey hoodie guy, Sean.  
  
"Hey, didn't you hear me back there?" he asked quietly.  
  
Trixie sighed as she walked, not giving an answer.  
  
"Nah, I didn't expect you to talk to me, no one does," Sean said, his feet shuffling along.  
Trixie gave him a look, "What, you trying to just hear me talk, too?"  
"No... I was actually coming up here to apologize for Jay being such a dick," Sean replied  
defensively, "but if you're going to be that way about it..."  
  
"No! No, no, I'm sorry..." Trixie stopped and looked up at Sean, "I appreciate you getting  
me out of that, but I can fight my own battles."  
  
Sean nodded with a slight smile, "Ah, you're a lot like my girlfriend," he put his hand out  
to shake, "Sean Cameron."  
"Trixie Miller," she replied, shaking his hand, the two then continuing to walk.  
"You're from Tennessee, aren't you?" Sean asked.  
"Yeah... hey, weren't you in my Biology class?" Trixie wondered.  
"Yeah, but I didn't notice you then, not until we walked out; you're good at hiding," he said.  
Trixie laughed, "Yep, I'm doing my job then, I guess," she replied.  
"But why? Because of people like Jay?"  
  
When Trixie didn't answer, he sighed.  
  
"Look... people like that can be jerks, believe me, I've met plenty... but don't hide because of it," Sean said, then added with a smile, "besides, you don't look like the type that should  
be hiding herself from the rest of the world."  
Then, they stopped at the door that Trixie had her next class in, "Well, thank you for bailing  
me out... and for the talk; I needed it."  
With a slight smile, he replied, "Yeah; hey, my girlfriend Ellie's in this class, you two should meet," he said, then walking off with a wave, "later."  
  
She got inside to find Paige, who saw her walk in and gestured to a seat near her.  
  
Trixie got the seat and smiled to Paige, "Hey."  
"Hey, Trix; um, this is Ashley Kerwin, she had Mr. Simpson with us this morning, and this  
is Ellie Nash sitting beside her," Paige introduced.  
They all exchanged hellos and Trixie turned to Ellie, "Ellie... Sean's girlfriend, right?"  
"Yeah," Ellie replied in a quiet, but a little suspecting tone.  
"He's really nice," Trixie said, "he helped me out of a jam."  
Ellie nodded, "That's cool," she lowered her voice some so Paige and Ashley couldn't hear   
her, "most people don't know him like I do, they all think he's some awful monster... I'm  
glad you don't," she said with a smile as the bell rang and everyone took their seats.  
  
Trent found out that Jimmy, Spinner, Marco, and Craig all had a band together that played  
in Craig's stepdad's garage for practice.  
  
"You should stop by one afternoon, watch the miracle as it unfolds," Marco said.  
"Uh, Marco, we're not THAT good yet," Craig pointed out.  
"But hey, we're getting better all the time," Jimmy said, leaning back in his seat and stretching.  
Hazel rolled her eyes and looked to Trent, "This is all they ever talk about when they're  
together."  
Trent chuckled, "Well if I were in a band, I would probably be the same way."  
"Hey, do you play any instruments?" Craig asked him.  
"Nah, I just listen pretty much; besides, if I ever got my hands on a guitar I'd probably find   
some way to break it," Trent replied, causing a bit of laughter.  
"Well, what DO you usually do?" Marco asked curiously.  
"Well, I was taking Karate back home; I'm like, four belts away from being a blackbelt,"  
Trent answered, "do they have it here?"  
"Sure they do," Jimmy replied, "and that's pretty cool."  
"Oh, Paige told me about you and your sister and how you guys moved here and everything; she said you guys are closer than any brother and sister she's ever seen," Hazel spoke up.  
"Well for the longest, all we ever had was eachother; plus I mean, we both knew the same people, went through the same kinda thing; it's kinda nice having someone around like that  
all the time. She's more like a best friend than anything."  
"I'm pretty close with my little half sister, so I kinda get what you're saying," Craig replied  
with a nod.  
  
One more class and lunchtime would roll around; boy, would the twins have a lot to tell eachother!


	4. You Presence Still Lingers

CHAPTER FOUR: YOUR PRESENCE STILL LINGERS  
  
The bell rang and Trixie headed for her next class, walking out with Ellie.   
  
"Trixie is so sweet," Ashley commented to Paige.  
  
"Yeah, you can tell she and her brother are related," Paige replied.  
  
It was then that Trent was coming up the hall with Marco and Hazel.  
  
Trixie was never happier to see her brother than at that moment and gave him a little hug,  
  
"Hey! How's your first day going so far?"  
  
"It's pretty good; this is Hazel and Marco," he introduced.  
  
"And this is Ellie and Ashley, she was in our class first period," she introduced as well.  
  
Ashley smiled shyly and waved, Ellie smiling and nodding.  
  
Trent and Trixie told everyone what they had next and they all split off into various groups,  
  
one of the twins going off with at least two people.  
  
Trent caught up with Craig at their lockers and as soon as they started talking, a very

pretty girl with a beautifully tanned complexion, brown eyes and black hair came up.  
  
"Hey Craig..." she said in a soft voice.  
  
Craig swallowed, "Uh, hey Manny."   
  
The girl wore a tank top and low-rider jeans; her ensemble had calmed down some since   
  
before, but not quite...  
  
She licked her lips, about to speak, but noticed Trent shutting his locker and coming up  
  
beside him, "Who's your friend?"  
  
Craig looked a little hesitant before he made introductions, "This is Trent Miller; Trent,   
  
this is Manny Santos."  
  
Trent nodded in regard, "Hello."  
  
Oh his voice... it was so deep... and it had an accent, which was interesting... And brown  
  
puppy dog eyes... Oh, so many things that would make any girl swoon!  
  
Craig noticed the look in her eyes and said, "Well, we've got to be getting to class, see you  
  
around!" and off they went.  
  
Manny stared after them... Trent Miller huh? Hot new guy at Degrassi, meet Manuela  
  
Santos...  
  
Craig looked over at Trent and gave him the best piece of advice he could offer, "Trent,

that girl? She's bad news, okay, don't get involved. Friendly's good, but go beyond that

and then comes trouble."  
  
"You've had experience with her before, then?" Trent asked.  
  
Craig nodded hesitantly, "Yeah... just, trust me buddy, okay?"  
  
Trent nodded, "Okay; well, I'm gonna get on to class, I'll see you later."  
  
"Later," Craig replied, walking on, but not too far before he spotted a girl with flaming red   
  
curls, 'Must be Trent's sister,' he mused, picking up his pace a little and catching up with

her.  
  
Trixie was walking to her next class when she saw someone out of the corner of her eye   
  
beside her.  
  
"Hey," said a guy with thick, longish black hair, "I'm Craig Manning, you must be Trixie."  
  
"Yep, that's me," Trixie replied in a soft, quiet voice.  
  
"I met your brother, he's pretty cool; I had my last class with him and he was telling us

about you," Craig said.  
  
"Really? Good things, I hope," she smiled.  
  
She had a really pretty smile; her deep green eyes seemed to light up behind her glasses

when she did.  
  
"Nothing bad, he made you sound pretty cool, too," Craig replied, then elbowed her, "just

live up to that and you'll be fine," he winked.  
  
With a laugh and a nod, Trixie said, "I'll remember that."  
  
She got to her class and was about to turn to Craig to tell him bye, but he as coming in

behind her.  
  
"Oh hey cool, we're in the same class; small world, huh?" Craig asked with a smile.  
  
"Yeah, really," Trixie replied with a small smile back.  
  
"Come sit with us," he invited her; deciding it couldn't hurt, Trixie sat behind him, with a guy  
  
beside her and a girl in front of that guy.  
  
Jimmy saw the girl and knew it had to be Trent's sister; from the way she looked, it could  
  
only be her.  
  
"Guys, this is Trent's twin Trixie," Craig introduced, "Trix, Jimmy and Terri."  
  
Trixie smiled and said hello, they doing the same.   
  
"You look nothing like your brother," Jimmy said with a smile, "that's wild."  
  
"They're fraternal twins," Terri explained.  
  
"I know, but look at them, they look nothing alike," Jimmy gestured to the red haired girl.  
  
"Well, now that you mention it..." Terri tilted her head to the side a little, "they don't."  
  
"Only our expressions, I've been told," Trixie said, "especially when we're down we have

the same kinda expression."  
  
"Whoa, freaky twin thing," Craig said with a smile, then the bell rang.  
  
Before the teacher came in, Jimmy managed to say to Trixie, "I think Terri might kinda like  
  
your brother," causing Terri to give him a slight look.  
  
"Jimmy..." she was about to say, but the teacher came in at that moment and class began.  
  
Toby and Emma sat together in their class and Emma giggled when she looked over to

Toby, "JT likes Trixie."  
  
"Yeah, I could tell," Toby replied, obviously not surprised.  
  
"Who's Trixie?" Liberty Van Zandt asked, who was sitting next to Emma.  
  
"She's a new girl in Grade 11, he SO likes her," Emma replied with a grin.  
  
"Go figure; JT likes any hot girl in Degrassi," Toby replied in monotone.  
  
"So you're admitting she's hot?" Emma giggled.  
  
"No no, nothing like that... you know what I mean!" Toby argued playfully.  
  
"Yeah I know, I thought I was about to have to go tell Kendra something!" Emma joked.   
  
Liberty sighed, "Any more, JT is so... superficial about his choice of women; can't he see

that it's the inside that counts, not out?"  
  
"Well, Trixie IS pretty nice, most Grade 11's are NEVER that nice to us," Emma pointed

out, "she even walked through the hall with Toby!"  
  
"What a shock; maybe she isn't so bad after all... I'd like to meet this girl, just to see what   
  
the fuss is about," Liberty commented before going back to writing whatever she was

writing. Emma sighed, "She sounds jealous..."  
  
"Tell me about it..." Toby agreed.  
  
Then, Manny walked up.  
  
"New girl? There's a new guy as well," she said to Toby and Emma.  
  
Emma disregarded her presence for the moment, but Toby answered, "Yeah, she has a

twin, but apparently they're fraternal. I saw her walking down the hall with Crai - ow,

Emma!"  
  
Manny blinked at hearing Craig's name, "Walking with Craig?"  
  
Toby said not a word, for he could feel Emma's foot on his shin, just waiting to kick again.  
  
Manny gave Emma a cold look and sauntered over to her seat.  
  
Emma then looked to Toby scoldingly, "You ought to know better than that, Toby!"  
  
"I wasn't thinking, alright! Good grief, remind me never to be kicked by you again..." Toby   
  
mumbled, rubbing his sore leg.


	5. Still Waiting

CHAPTER FIVE: STILL WAITING  
  
Title idea came from "Trent", as well as a few of the ideas, lol ) Happy reading!  
  
Lunch finally rolled around and everyone started heading outside and in the cafeteria to  
  
eat and meet with friends.  
  
Trent and Trixie sat with Paige, Spinner, Jimmy, Hazel, Ashley, and Terri; every once in  
  
awhile during the time, someone who'd met either of the twins would come up and say   
  
hello to them. Sean and Ellie waved to Trixie and she waved back, of course.  
  
"You know Sean?" Paige asked in a sort of shock.  
  
"Kinda, he helped me out of a jam this morning," Trixie replied honestly.  
  
"I'd advise not hanging around him too much, Trix, he's bad news," Paige said, trying to   
  
keep her friend from getting in trouble.  
  
"He's not all that bad," Ashley said in defense of Ellie's boyfriend.  
  
"Ash, he steals from the school," Paige debated.  
  
"I don't think it's really all him," Ashley said.  
  
"Well it might not be, but it's his own fault for not choosing the right friends, ones that   
  
won't keep getting him in trouble; besides, he did a pretty big heart-breaking number on   
  
Emma, too..." Paige added.  
  
"Emma and Sean were an item?" Trixie wondered.  
  
Meanwhile, the guys were talking about more "guyly" things.  
  
"Boy-crazy little women..." Spinner teased lightly, looking to his friends.  
  
Jimmy laughed, "They're no more boy crazy than you are girl crazy."  
  
"But I have a girlfriend, so that gives me a right to be girl crazy," Spinner tried to be  
  
matter-of-fact about it, but only got the look from the other guys.  
  
Trent sighed, "Besides, Jimmy, it's not so bad being girl crazy even when you DON'T have

a girlfriend, is it?"  
  
Jimmy smiled, "Nah, I guess not," he checked to make sure Terri wasn't listening, "'cause  
  
we ALL know what's up with you..."  
  
Spinner looked ultimately confused, "Uh..."  
  
Jimmy looked shocked, "You mean Paige didn't tell youabout Trent's crush?"  
  
Spinner grinned, "Oh yeah, she did! Dude, does he know about...?"  
  
At that time, Paige and Terri were whispering about Trent amongst themselves.  
  
"So, you like him or what?" Paige asked her, a big grin on her face.  
  
"I really don't know what to think... I mean, he seems nice and all, but so did..." Terrie  
  
trailed off, knowing Paige would get what she meant.  
  
Paige looked into her eyes and knew what she was thinking, "Yeah, but Trent's not...

creepy, you know?"   
  
Terri looked a little hurt, "So you're basically trying to make me like him or something?"  
  
"No! Ter, this is all up to you, whether you like him or not is your choice, but it just seemed  
  
like you might," Paige corrected herself.  
  
Terri sighed wistfully and looked into the distance at the more scenic part of the campus, "I   
  
don't know really what I feel right now, Paige... you know, sometimes I still don't feel that   
  
safe. I mean, I know Rick's at a private school and supposedly getting treatment at that

facility, but still..."  
  
Paige understood her point completely; she'd felt the same way after she had been raped:

not safe. "Look... I'm sorry if this conversation upset you or anything, but I was just

wondering because it seemed like you MIGHT like him..."  
  
The guys, Hazel, and Ashley were asking Trent about karate, and asking both twins

questions about Tennessee.  
  
"Hey, how long have you been in karate?" Jimmy asked.  
  
"Uhhh... If I get it here, in two months it'll be two years," Trent replied.  
  
"Are you black belt?" Spinner wondered.  
  
"No, first level brown belt," Trent answered.  
  
"Ooh, impressive," Hazel said with a smile, nudging Ashley, who apparently thought the

same, for she blushed when Hazel nudged her.  
  
"He's getting close to getting the blackbelt though, he'd been training quite a bit back

home," Trixie added.  
  
Paige and Terri were now listening in, Paige watching Terri's reactions to anything said.  
  
"Have you ever kicked anyone's ass?" Spinner asked with a grin, Paige whacking him

upside the head.  
  
"Honeybee!"   
  
"What, I was wondering!"  
  
Trent laughed at their antics along with the others, "No, but I'm workin' on it!"  
  
This caused everyone at the table to laugh; they started asking about Tennessee at that

time, while some very interesting things were going on at other places...  
  
Toby, JT, Kendra, and Emma's table was, of course, lively with chatter.  
  
"JT, just admit it, you like Trixie, okay?" Toby said.  
  
JT just sighed, looking off in the distance and trying not to make it look like he was looking

at her; she was sitting with Paige and the rest like he usually did, but he didn't have the

courage to sit with them like he wanted to...  
  
Kendra saw what direction he was looking in, however, and smirked, "JT, you're being

obvious; just ask her to the Beginning of School dance you know is coming up."  
  
"They're making the announcement tomorrow Liberty said," Emma added with a smile, "so

that would be perfect!"  
  
JT got up to throw away his trash and get away from them for a little while, "Just give it a

rest, will you?"  
  
"What, JT?... Are you SCARED of her?" Toby asked, causing Kendra and Emma to

laugh.  
  
That went under JT's skin a little, "Of course not... watch, I'll go over there and say hi to

her right now before I go to the library."  
  
"OOh, what're you goin' to the library for?" Kendra asked.  
  
"To get away from you guys for awhile," JT replied quite honestly.  
  
Manny watched from the distance as JT went over to Trent's table to say hello to the girl

with red curls that glowed almost gold when sunlight hit them. Other than that, she didn't

look like anything THAT special... nothing that Craig could fall in love with any more than

he could've fallen in love with HER.  
  
Liberty walked up to Manny when she saw where her gaze was, "It seems JT's taken a

fancy to her," she almost bitterly.  
  
"Yeah... seems every boy in Degrassi might wind up doing that... I even saw Sean waving

at her," Manny replied distantly.  
  
Liberty sighed, "She is pretty... but I'd have to meet her to actually know what she's like..."

she said in a once and for all sort of way, then walking away from Manny, leaving her

alone with her thoughts again.  
  
The bell dismissing everyone to class once again rang and the students all filed inside the

school, going to their next class.  
  
The class after lunch went on rather smoothly without a hitch, but the last class...  
  
Jay was pissed off about Sean standing up for that little Farm Girl earlier, so it made his

day just a little bit better when he saw her brother sitting in the classroom, alone.  
  
Trent was sitting at his desk waiting for Craig to come in; they were going to talk about him

coming over sometime to watch the band rehearse and see what he thought of them, but

when he looked up and saw that only Jay had come in, he just went back to waiting for

Craig.  
  
Jay went carefully by his desk, casually knocking his books off of them, then looking down

at him with a look of mock sympathy, "Aww, did I knock the Farm Boy's books off his

desk? I am SO sorry..." he then smirked, going in the back to his own desk. It sort of

surprised him when he looked up from his headphones and saw Trent standing there.  
  
"Look, I don't know what your problem is, but I don't appreciate what you've been doing

ever since me and my sister got here. And I don't appreciate what you did to her out in the

hall earlier, either; so I suggest you leave us alone or you WILL be sorry you didn't..."

Trent trailed, fire in his eyes as he was about to go back to his seat. What he'd wanted to

say had been said, so he felt no more purpose in being back there.  
  
Jay got up from his desk, trying to get over the shock of someone standing up to HIM,

"Are you TRYING to pick a fight? 'Cause I can give you one, you know."  
  
Trent turned back to him as other students started to come in, but stayed at the door,

sensing trouble, "No, I just want you to leave us the hell alone."  
  
Jay made like he was going to go back to his seat, but then he pounced at Trent, someone

going to get a teacher right then and there.   
  
For a moment, the boys scuffled with eachother, but Trent managd to throw Jay back

against the wall; when Jay came at him again, however, he flipped him all the way over his

own body, Jay landing on his back and not moving. He wasn't hurt, just in shock...  
  
When the teacher arrived, the scene was just like this, Trent standing there panting and Jay

laying on the ground panting.  
  
The teacher had heard what the students said, and came in to this, so he sent teh boys to

Mr. Raditch, the principal.  
  
Meanwhile in Trixie's class, Jimmy came running in from the hall with Spinner and Marco,

Craig not far behind, "Trix, your brother just got into a fight with Jay!" Craig said.  
  
Trixie's eyes went wide and her face took on a horrified look, "Oh my god, is he alright?"  
  
"Oh, he's fine from what I could tell, just a scratch on his cheek; JAY, however, looked a

bit shaken up..." Marco replied with a smirk.  
  
Trixie smiled and laughed, "I just hope he don't get into a lot of trouble... he don't need

something like this the first day."  
  
Jimmy patted her shoulder reassuringly as Paige and Terri came in, "Not to worry, I think

he was trying to settle things with words first, so that might get him some extra points."  
  
Trixie smiled and Craig waved to her as he left, saying, "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out

on him for you," with a wink, then went out the door.  
  
In Raditch's office, Trent explained his side of the story, then Jay did, and the witnesses did

as well; seeing that Trent had tried to do the right thing first, he didn't get any trouble, but a

warning. Jay got two days of after school detention and a restraining order against Trent.  
  
At the end of the day when the twins got home, Trixie asked, "So, what's your opinion of

Degrassi?"  
  
Trent only thought for a moment before he smiled and replied honestly, "I think I'm gonna

like it here."


	6. Every Time I Try

CHAPTER SIX: EVERY TIME I TRY...  
  
The next day was a little less unnerving for the twins, since they'd actually made some friends and had somewhere to belong in the school.  
  
They got there and went to their first period and talked with Paige and Spinner until Ashley came onto the TV screen to make the announcements and other news for the day.  
  
"The Beginning of The Year dance at Degrassi is coming up not this Friday, but the next, so choose your date wisely," was the main thing everyone paid attention to and started discussing right off.  
  
Paige grinned to Trent, "You ought to ask Terri," she suggested.  
  
"I was actually thinking about that... but I probably won't do it right now or anything," Trent replied.  
  
Trixie looked around sullenly; she didn't really have anyone that she hoped would ask her to the dance.  
  
Spinner looked over at her, "So, Trix, who're you hoping might ask you?"  
  
"I don't," Trixie replied.  
  
"Hon, you've gotta have someone," Paige said, a bit miffed.   
  
"No, I seriously don't; I don't know anyone well enough really yet," Trixie replied.  
  
"Craig would probably want to," Spinner theorized.  
  
"Well probably, but considering what he did to Ash and Manny..." Paig trailed.  
  
"Dude, Paige, that was year before last," Spinner added.  
  
"Yes, but Manny still hasn't gotten over him, as you can see," Paige pointed out.  
  
"Who's Manny?" Trixie asked.  
  
"Craig's sort-of ex," Spinner replied.  
  
Trixie was just gonna leave it at that as Paige and Spinner talked on about it. Trent looked over to her sympathetically.  
  
"Don't worry," Trent said, patting the younger twin's hand, "there'll be someone."  
  
Trixie smiled a little, hoping that he might be right. She sighed and looked around, out of the corner of her eye seeing Jay staring her down evilly. Ha, like he'd mess with her or anything, her brother had already taken care of that...  
  
The tone rang for second period and before Paige and Trent walked off, Paige called back, "Hey, us girls'll all go shopping for dresses, huh?"  
  
"Sounds great," Trixie replied with a smile, trying to act more cheerful than she felt, waving.  
  
Emma was walking down the hall and saw Trixie coming her way; she waved cheerily.  
  
"Hey Trixie!"  
  
"Hey Em," Trixie replied. She caught up with Emma and they walked to class together.  
  
Toby saw Emma coming with Trixie and looked over to JT with a smirk.  
  
"Guess who's coming?" he asked.  
  
JT sighed, "Toby..." he sounded desperate, then he saw Emma, "oh no, she's probably telling her..."  
  
"Telling her what, JT?" Toby asked mockingly with a grin.  
  
"Nothing," JT covered up quickly, but what he saw next made him cringe a bit, wondering what the heck could be going on...  
  
Outside, Emma and Trixie were about to go inside, but someone coming up stopped them.  
  
"You're Trixie, aren't you?" a girl asked her.  
  
"Yeees..." Trixie's eyes asked the obvious question.  
  
Emma sighed, "Trixie, this is Liberty Van Zandt.  
  
Spinner's warning spun in her mind, "Hello, Liberty..." she said with a friendly smile.  
  
Emma looked to Liberty, "What are you wanting?"  
  
"Oh, nothing in particular," Liberty replied, eyeing Trixie up and down, "just wanting to meet this new girl that everyone seems to be talking about."  
  
"Well, we've gotta get to class, see you, Liberty," Emma replied, ushering Trixie inside, who looked back at the girl in the hall.  
  
"What was all that about?" she asked Emma.  
  
Emma shook her head, "Ignore her, she's just..."  
  
"Annoying?" JT filled in with a smile.  
  
Emma crossed her arms, "Well JT, we don't wanna be rude..."  
  
"But we need to be honest!" JT replied with a grin.  
  
Sean then walked in the door; Emma saw him out of the corner of her eye and chose to ignore him, but when she saw him give Trixie a nod of recognition, she couldn't help but sort of wonder.  
  
"How do you know Sean?" she asked quietly.  
  
"He helped me out yesterday," Trixie replied just as.  
  
Emma seemed surprised, "Oh, okay."  
  
JT sort of wished that everyone weren't around so he could actually talk to Trixie without everyone breathing down his neck. As if Emma saw what he this or something, she said:  
  
"Well, I'm gonna go sit down, I'll see you later, Trixie," Emma smiled, walking over to her seat.  
  
"So," Toby began, "anyone ask you to the dance yet?" this was directed to Trixie.  
  
"Nope, and I don't really have anyone I think will," Trixie replied honestly.  
  
"Why do you say that?" JT asked, a bit confused.  
  
Trixie shrugged, "Just I'm not thinking too much about it; Paige said something about going dress shopping."   
  
"So you're gonna go?" was JT's next question.  
  
"I guess so," Trixie replied, "my brother's thinking about asking Terri MacGreggor and I don't wanna be alone that night."  
  
JT nodded, "Cool," then got a look from Toby. He gave him a "what?" sort of look back as class started.  
  
Trent, meanwhile, had been at his locker a little before class started when he noticed a shadow on the lockers beside him; looking up, he saw Manny.  
  
"Hi, Trent," Manny said with a smile.  
  
"Hey Manny," Trent replied, trying to be casual, not overly friendly or anything.  
  
He got everything he needed and shut his locker, starting off for class, but noticing that Manny never left his side.  
  
"Is there something wrong?" he asked her, not trying to be rude, but wondering what the hell was up.  
  
"Oh no, nothing's wrong; hey, you've heard about the dance and everything. Got someone in mind to ask yet?" she wondered, looking up at him through her thick black eyelashes.  
  
"Yeah, kinda, why?" was Trent's question.   
  
"Oh, no reason... just wondering," Manny replied, a bit hurt, but tried not to show it.  
  
"Well, see you later," Trent then ducked into his class.  
  
Manny sighed; who in the WORLD could he be planning on asking?...  
  
She'd find a way to get him to take her to the dance, she just knew it.  
  
After that period, Trent and Jimmy walked out of the classroom and headed toward their third period, Craig meeting up with them on the way.  
  
"Hey Trent, what kinda music are you into?" Craig happened to ask.  
  
"Uhhh... stuff like Smile Empty Soul, Cold, Staind, Linkin Park..." Trent replied.  
  
"What about your sister?" Craig wondered.  
  
"Pretty much the same stuff, only she likes a few other things," Trent answered.  
  
It was then that Trent suddenly remembered his conversation with Manny.  
  
"Oh yeah, Manny came up to me earlier," Trent said.  
  
"I'm not surprised..." Jimmy mumbled.  
  
"What'd she say?" Craig was curious.  
  
"She just kinda followed me from my locker to my class and asked me who I had in mind to take to the dance," Trent replied.  
  
"What'd you tell her?" Craig wondered.  
  
"I had someone in mind, just didn't tell her who in case word somehow got back," Trent answered.  
  
Craig felt instantly sorry for Trent; she was going to try and get him in the same trap he had gotten into...  
  
As Trixie was making her way to her third period, someone tapped her on the shoulder.  
  
She turned to see JT, "Oh hey," she smiled, "what's up?"  
  
"Well, I never asked you yesterday, but..." he seemed a bit nervous, but tried to cover it up, "can I have your number? 'Cause you're pretty cool and I wanna talk sometime."  
  
Trixie shrugged, "Sure," she replied, grabbing her pen and writing it on his hand and writing her name in pretty cursive, then smiled, "there ya go!"  
  
JT smiled, "Thanks, I'll call you."  
  
"Cool; well, later, JT!" she called after him, walking on to her next period.  
  
JT looked at the number on his hand; at last, his chance to get to know Trixie without everyone in on it.  
  
Later on at lunch, Trixie sort of wandered rather than just staying in one place; she spotted Craig sitting on the school's front steps alone and decided to go over and say hello.  
  
"Hey, Craig," she said and sat down, "how goes it?"  
  
Craig was kind of surprised that she came over and sat with him, ""Ah, okay, and you?"  
  
Trixie nodded, "Fair; I'm just kinda wandering."  
  
"I could tell, you're over here with me," Craig replied with a grin.  
  
Trixie laughed and blushed a little, "Right, blonde moment."  
  
Craig made a face, "Nah."  
  
Trent and Terri had gotten into their own conversation while the others, for some reason, all went to throw their garbage away at the same time.  
  
"I heard you got into a fight with Jay yesterday," Terri began shyly.  
  
"Yeah kinda... but it wasn't a big deal or anything," Trent replied.  
  
Terri laughed a little, "If you were any other guy, you'd be gloating over how you kicked his ass."  
  
"Well, I'm not any other guy," Trent replied, looking into her eyes.  
  
Terri looked back into his for a moment, then looked away.  
  
"So, um... what else are you into, besides karate?" she wondered.  
  
"Well, pretty much just music, games and stuff like that," he answered.  
  
"Oh that's cool; I like dancing. It's really fun for me, I'll just be in my room not doing anything and my radio will play some random song and I just..." Terri blushed and giggled nervously, "sorry about that..."  
  
Trent laughed and smiled, "That's okay; my sister loves dancing, too, you should really get together and hang out sometime."  
  
Terri nodded, "She seems really sweet."  
  
They continued to talk as a soft fall breeze blew around them, ruffling their hair and causing a couple of stray papers on the ground to flutter.  
  
Paige and Ashley were just walking around talking about nothing in particular when they got onto a subject...  
  
"So Ash, got anyone in mind for the dance?" Paige smiled.  
  
"Not really... well I mean yeah, in a way..." Ashley replied, looking down at her feet.  
  
"Really? Who?" Paige wondered.  
  
Ashley was quiet, then Paige gasped.  
  
"You like Trent, don't you?" she asked with wide eyes.  
  
"Kinda, yeah..." Ashley replied, but then sighed, "but it doesn't look like I have much of a chance..."   
  
The two looked over at the table, seeing them.  
  
"But Terri needs someone that'll be good to her, and I know he would be," Ashley added, not for one moment sounding bitter.  
  
Jimmy and Spinner walked over to Craig, Marco following.  
  
"...Well Craig, I think I'll go ahead and do more wandering; I'll talk to you in class," Trixie said, getting up and smiling to the other guys.  
  
"Later..." Craig replied, watching her go.  
  
Jimmy, Spinner, and Marco watched him watch her and all got grins on their faces.  
  
"We know who Craig's got his eyes on... a certain vivacious little redhead with a name as playful as she is!" Spinner said, causing the guys to laugh.  
  
"Vivacious? Spin, since when did you read a dictionary?" Jimmy wondered.  
  
"Come to think of it, when did you start reading at all?" Marco added, causing more laughter.  
  
"Oh, shut up, dudes," Spinner replied, patting Craig's shoulder, "this is the man of the hour, not me."  
  
"So spill, Manning; you like her or not?" Jimmy asked.  
  
"She's.... she's cute, she's.... nice, uh..... smart...." Craig rambled.  
  
Spinner rolled his eyes, "Dude, that so wasn't the question!"  
  
"Sh-ah, guys, I just... I don't know, okay? I'm still dealing with the repercussions of the Manny/Ashley thing here, I don't know WHAT I want..." Craig replied, getting up and walking into the school.  
  
The guys looked from one to the other, scratching their heads, rubbing the backs of their necks, and sighing.  
  
Trixie had visited the Grade Tens and met Toby's girlfriend Kendra and chatted with them for a little while; she'd wanted to visit with Sean and Ellie, but they were with Jay and she didn't really want to be around them.  
  
But Ellie saw her and said something to Sean, so the two came over to Trixie.  
  
"Hey El, hey Sean," she said with a smile, "what's up?"  
  
They all talked for a little while and she gave Ellie her number so they could talk sometime. The bell rang and everyone filed inside to their next class. 


	7. Things Are Gonna Happen, Naturally

CHAPTER EIGHT: THINGS ARE GONNA HAPPEN, NATURALLY  
  
After school, Trixie was in her room, her stereo full-blast. A Linkin Park had just got   
  
done playing and Jessica Simpson's "With You" came on and she started singing along  
  
into her ink pen, making crazy moves as she did so.  
  
Trent tried knocking on his sister's door, but it as useless to try and be heard over her   
  
stereo, so he opened her door. Spinner had come over and asked him if he wanted to   
  
shoot hoops with him and Jimmy and he'd agreed, but he had to let Trixie know first so  
  
she wouldn't "go postal" as he put it.  
  
So for a moment, the two boys observed her antics.  
  
After a moment more, Trixie looked in her mirror and was horrified to see her brother   
  
and Spinner watching. She tried to hurry over to her stereo to turn it down, but she   
  
slipped on the pen that she had dropped and fell on her ass.   
  
She blushed, getting up and turning her stereo down, "Uh, yes?..."  
  
Both Trent and Spinner were trying to keep from laughing, "I'm gonna go shoot hoops  
  
with Jimmy and Spin, 'kay?"  
  
"Sure..." Trixie mumbled, trying to avoid their faces.  
  
Luckily they cleared out, then she paused her CD and went downstairs to get some  
  
water; as she was going back up to her room, the phone rang.  
  
"Hello?"   
  
"Hey, Trixie? It's JT."  
  
"Hey, JT; what's up?" she asked, sitting on the stairs.  
  
"Not much... you?"  
  
"Just sitting here; my brother went out to play basketball with Jimmy and Spin, so I'm  
  
bored and now alone," she laughed.  
  
"Alone? An attractive girl like you ALL ALONE?" JT asked in a "mock shocked" way.  
  
Trixie laughed, "Whatever; alone, you got that right, anyway."  
  
"Do I sense modesty?"  
  
"No, you sense reality."  
  
JT raised an eyebrow at her comment, but decided not to press it, he didn't want to  
  
make her mad, "So, other than being alone, what's new?"  
  
Trixie shook her head, "Nooot much... but I'm glad ya called, I was getting bored fast."  
  
"Any time," JT chuckled, "Toby's on the phone with Kendra. I swear, him and her get to  
  
me sometimes..."  
  
"Don't you have a girlfriend, JT?" Trixie was genuinely curious.  
  
"No," JT replied, "but I've had my eye on one."  
  
"Oh really? What's she like?"   
  
Was she kidding? Or did she really not seem to think that he liked her?...  
  
"Well, thing is I don't know her that well, so I really can't say... only that she's pretty,  
  
seems really smart, and is cool to be around, when one gets the chance."  
  
Trixie hissed, "Ugh, I hate it when that happens... how can you not be around her?"  
  
"There are always other people, and they don't seem to know how to leave me alone

about it," JT replied with genuine frustration.  
  
With a frown, Trixie asked, "Do they know you like her?"  
  
"They're assuming, but if I know them, they'd try and hook me and her up if they knew I   
  
did."  
  
"But isn't that what you want?"  
  
"No; I wanna ask her myself."  
  
"Then why don't you?"  
  
'I want to, but you're so unreachable I'm almost afraid to,' JT thought to himself, but

replied.  
  
"'Cause I want it to be right - I wanna make sure she might kinda like me first."  
  
"You're a likeable guy," Trixie laughed, "that shouldn't be too hard."  
  
"Really now?" JT said, then asked in a joking voice, "Ya think I'm sexy?"  
  
Trixie laughed, "Oh yes, JT, you're one sexy dude."   
  
Both teens sat there for a couple of minutes laughing.   
  
"Hey, you wanna go to the park for a little while? You know, to hang out?" JT asked.  
  
Trixie shrugged, "Sure, it sounds good to me."  
  
"Cool; I'll meet you there in abouuut... ten minutes?"  
  
"Cool; talk to ya then, bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
JT smiled to himself; he was looking forward to this!  
  
Trent and Jimmy were going head to head in basketball, Trent having beat Spinner on their  
  
round, so he played Jimmy after that.  
  
Trent had the ball for a little while, but then Jimmy came along and knocked it out of his  
  
grasp, going down to the other end of the court with it.  
  
"Ooooh, go Jimmy, go!" Spinner said, then his cell phone rang, "Hello?"  
  
"Hey Honeybee."  
  
"Hello Cinnamon Roll."  
  
Trent heard this and was about to say something to Spinner about it when Jimmy got the   
  
ball from him again.  
  
"Hey, no fair, Brooks!"  
  
Jimmy made his shot, then came up to Trent with a joking smirk, "Life's not fair, Miller."  
  
They stopped playing to observe Spinner.  
  
"Yeah.... yeah, okay, I can do that; talk to you in a bit... Love you too, bye."  
  
He hung up his phone to see his friends standing there staring at him with amused looks.  
  
"What?"  
  
""Cinnamon Roll"? Spin, you make me gag..." Jimmy replied, handing Trent the ball, which  
  
he dribbled while he stood there.  
  
"Dude.... nevermind, anyway, I've gotta go pick up the girls from the mall," Spinner said.  
  
"Taking them home?" Jimmy asked.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Can we all fit in there?" Jimmy asked, "I mean, it would be you, Paige, me, Hazel, Terri,  
  
AND Trent..."  
  
"She told me to bring the minivan and she'd take me home," Spinner replied.  
  
"Her parents'll let you do that?" Trent asked.  
  
"Yeah, she's the one that gave me the spare key," Spinner winked, the guys all heading  
  
over to the Michaelchuck residence.  
  
In the meantime, Trixie was on her way over to the park; she'd left a note just in case Trent   
  
or her mom got back before she did. Trent, she didn't doubt, but her mom, she did.   
  
She tugged a little on the long sleeves of her blue and black striped top. It was getting a   
  
little chilly and she hadn't thought to bring a jacket.  
  
After a short walk, she was at the park; the leaves crunched under her feet as she made

her way over to the swing set. It was still an hour yet before the sun set, so Trixie sat in one

of the swings and pushed off. She wasn't going very high when suddenly, someone

grabbed her swing chains and stopped her so fast that she nearly fell out. Instead, she

jerked violently forward, but then the swing started to shake. Now she was REALLY

paranoid.  
  
She shot out of the swing only to find JT standing there.  
  
Placing a hand to her heart, she said, "Geez louise, JT, you scared me!"  
  
JT grinned, "Hello, Trixie!"  
  
Trixie replied, "I'll just warn you, people behind me paranoys me - I don't know why, it

just really freaks me out, so please warn me next time?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry..." JT said sheepishly, "I promise, no more attacks from behind."  
  
"I'm not sure about your attacks from any direction!" Trixie said with a laugh.  
  
JT grinned, "Oh come on, you know you want my body...."  
  
Trixie almost fell over laughing, "Sure, JT..."  
  
He came over to her side and they walked around.  
  
"So, what all do you like to do?" he asked.  
  
"Uhh... play basketball, just to shoot hoops, draw, write - "  
  
"Stories and stuff?" JT asked with interest.  
  
"Yeah - and poetry, too," Trixie replied.   
  
"That's pretty cool, I've never really met anyone that writes stories," JT said, "I wanna read

one sometime."  
  
"You mean that?..."  
  
"Well, yeah, of course, why wouldn't I?"  
  
"I write romances and stuff."  
  
"I have NO problem with that; just, don't tell anyone, ya get me?"  
  
Trixie giggled, "I won't tell a soul."  
  
"Good! 'Cause if you did...." JT made a slit-throat motion.  
  
"Oh you would NOT!" Trixie said haughtily.  
  
JT considered this a moment, "Nah, probably not."  
  
He thought about what he was going to say next, then decided.  
  
"So hey.... uh, you know that girl I was talking about?"   
  
"Yeah..."   
  
"Well, I wanna ask you a few things 'cause I think they might help me," he said, "okay?"  
  
"Sure, what?"  
  
"Well... if a guy were interested in you, what would it take for you to notice him?"  
  
"Hmmm.... he'd have to be able to make me laugh..."  
  
'One down...' he thought.  
  
"I have a thing for guys who write poetry or play an instrument..."  
  
'Hmmm...'  
  
"But most of all? He'd have to be unafraid to be himself. If I can't like a guy for who he  
  
is, I never will."  
  
"Whoa... you don't seem hard to please," JT commented.  
  
Trixie shrugged, "Nah."  
  
After a moment of silence, JT saw a patch of leaves and suddenly shoved Trixie; she

slipped and landed right into the leaves, looking up to see JT laughing.  
  
"JT Yorke! Your ass is grass when I catch you!"  
  
JT yelped and took off running as Trixie got up and chased him around the park.  
  
Toby and Kendra were walking home from the movies when they passed by the park.  
  
"Isn't that JT?" Kendra asked, pointing to a figure in the distance.  
  
Toby squinted a bit, "Yeah... and it looks like he has someone with him..." he concluded in

a sing-song voice.  
  
"Oh my gosh, it's Trixie! How cute is THAT?" Kendra asked.  
  
Toby grinned, "Oh man..."  
  
"Should we say hi?"   
  
"Nah, we'll see him tomorrow..." Toby grinned evilly as they continued homeward.  
  
Meanwhile, Spinner had picked the girls up and all the couples got together, one in the

front and one in the very back, so Trent and Terri took the middle.  
  
"Enjoy shopping?" Trent asked her in a friendly way.  
  
"Oh yeah..." she replied, blushing just a bit, but silently scolding herself for it.  
  
"Ah hey, I was wanting to ask you, since we had a pretty good conversation at school

today, would you care if I called you sometime?" he wondered.   
  
She was about to say no, but for some reason she couldn't; he was way too sweet and

they had a lot in common, so she ripped a piece of her brown paper bag off and wrote

down her number,   
  
"Sure, there you go."  
  
"Thanks," Trent said sincerely, placing the number in his pocket.  
  
While they talked, Jimmy and Hazel quietly observed as they held eachother.  
  
"You think they'll ever go out?" Hazel asked Jimmy quietly.  
  
"Maybe someday, if Terri starts trusting men romantically again..." Jimmy replied.  
  
Hazel nodded, "I know, I think he would be good for her."  
  
"You're not the only one..." Jimmy mumbled.  
  
Spinner and Paige were talking about the same thing up front.  
  
"They really would make a cute couple, don't you think, Honeybee?" Paige asked.  
  
Spinner nodded, "They would."  
  
"Yeah... Ashley kinda likes him," she said.  
  
"She does? Dude, I guess his interest in Ter's kinda bumming her out then, huh?"  
  
"Well, only a little as far as I can tell; she doesn't seem too bothered about it, she thinks

Terri deserves a good man and he is one, you can just tell."  
  
"Yeah, we all know HE'S not psycho."  
  
"Speaking of which..." Paige dropped her voice to a whisper, "you know that he's still in

the neighborhood? He might be in private school and all that, but he's still around!"  
  
This made Spinner angry, "He comes near her, his ass is dead."  
  
Paige smiled a little bit, "I think Trent would get on that before you would... no offense,   
  
Honeybee."  
  
"None taken, Sugarmuffin, I know what you mean."  
  
Spinner dropped Hazel and Jimmy off first, then Terri, then Trent.  
  
"Hon," Paige said before he got out, "just to let you know, if she doesn't go out with you

the first time, don't give up on her, okay?"  
  
He smiled back, "I don't plan on it." Then he waved as he got out of the minivan, heading

into his house.  
  
When he got inside, he discovered Trixie's note. Out with JT, huh?   
  
He grabbed the phone and went to call Terri...  
  
Meanwhile, JT was walking Trixie home just as the sun was setting, washing everything in a

shade of golden orange. Her hair was even more radiant in this light than it was in regular

everyday lighting.  
  
"Well JT, I've really had fun with you," she said, "we should do this more often!"  
  
"Hey, any time, I don't mind," JT replied, surprising her by leaning forward and giving her a

hug... but surprising her even more when there was no prank to it. "I'll see you at school

tomorrow."  
  
"Okay.... bye, JT!" she waved as he walked away.  
  
With a sigh, she went into the house to find her brother watching music videos on mute and

talking on the phone, so she quietly went to the kitchen to make something quick for

dinner.  
  
"Yeah... oh yeah, I understand... Yeah.... oh... okay... bye..." Trent sounded disappointed

as he hung up the phone.  
  
He went into the kitchen to see what his sister was making.   
  
She looked curious as to who he'd been talking to, but said not a word.  
  
"I asked Terri out on a date and she said no," Trent said sadly.  
  
"Aww, I'm sorry..." Trixie replied, hugging her brother sympathetically.  
  
"I'm not giving up, though... I can't," he added, going back to the living room to watch

music videos.  
  
Meanwhile Trixie continued to cook, reflecting over her evening...


	8. I Wish You Knew

CHAPTER EIGHT: I WISH YOU KNEW  
  
The twins' next few days at school went by rather smoothly, considering what all could've happened; It was one day after school that Paige suggested that all the girls go dress shopping. Ashley and Trixie vouched for Ellie to come along; Paige was about to protest, but then agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly.  
  
With that, the two girls went to catch up with their friend and try to talk her into coming with them.  
  
They saw her standing with Sean at the front of the building; Ashley spoke up first.  
  
"Hope we're not interrupting something," Ashley said, causing them to look up.  
  
"Ah, looks like the girls want a little time," Sean said, winking playfully as he said it. He and Ellie kissed, then he headed over to where Jay and his gang were waiting for him. For some reason, Trixie couldn't shake the cold chill running up her spine when Jay looked her way, but disregarded it when Sean went toward them and he looked away from them.  
  
"What's up?" Ellie asked in a friendly, sort-of upbeat tone.  
  
"Wanna come dress shopping with the girls?" Trixie asked.  
  
"You mean Paige and the Mod Squad? Thanks, but no thanks," Ellie replied, adjusting the strap on her backpack.  
  
"Come on, El; besides, your humor in times we can't find the right dress is needed," Ashley replied with a meant-to-charm smile.  
  
Ellie smiled a little bit, "Alright, I'll come for you guys' sakes," she said with a small laugh.  
  
The girls came back to find Paige talking to Spinner and Trent.  
  
"Has anyone seen Terri?" Paige asked.  
  
Trent's face fell a little when her name was mentioned, but Spinner answered Paige.  
  
"Her dad picked her up a few minutes ago."  
  
"Well okay, we'll just swing by her house on the way, cool girls?" Paige asked.  
  
The girls agreed and started for Paige's minivan, Trixie asking Trent to let JT know she was out if he called or came by.  
  
When the girls asll got into the minivan, Paige turned to Trixie, "JT? As in JT Yorke?"  
  
"Yeah... how come?" Trixie wondered a bit nervously.  
  
"Oh yeah, Toby's my stepbrother and he's mentioned..." Ashley stopped herself.  
  
"Mentioned what?" Trixie asked.  
  
"Uh... just that he knows you and thinks a lot of you," Ashley replied, hoping that would end the discussion.  
  
Paige pressed her lips together and got a small smile on her face as she looked over to Hazel, then started the minivan and pulled out of the school parking lot, heading toward Terri's house.  
  
Trent and Spinner got to his house and the first thing Spinner did was raid the cabinets.  
  
"If you're looking for the spray cheese, it's in the pantry," Trent said.  
  
"Oh hey, so you DID think of me when you guys went grocery shopping!" Spinner clapped his hand on his friend's back, but then realized the melancholiness that had been in his voice. "Dude, I know you're bummed about Terri not wanting to go out with you, but..."  
  
"It's not only that, Spin... she's not planning on going to the dance, even... at ALL," Trent replied, propping his chin in his hands.  
  
"So ask someone else," Spinner suggested.  
  
"But it's HER I wanna go with..." Trent said moodily, "I wanna go with Terri...."  
  
"Look, you know what you need?" Spinner asked, spraying some of the spray cheese into his mouth, "some home-boy style R&R."  
  
Trent raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Dude, I'll call Jimmy and Marco and Craig and we'll play videogames or something," Spinner said, "the one thing that'll cure your woman blues for sure!"  
  
He dove for the phone and dialed Jimmy's number while Trent went to check and make sure they had plenty of food and Spinner wouldn't eat them out of house and home.   
  
Jimmy said he would be right over, and Marco said he would come after he and Dylan (his boyfriend) spent some time together, and he couldn't get ahold of Craig, so he tried his cell phone.  
  
Craig was walking around the mall when he heard his cell phone ringing from inside his pocket, "Yeeeellow?"  
  
"Craig! Dude, I tried your house but Joey said you were out - where are you?" Spinner's unmistakenable voice said.  
  
"I'm at the mall, what's up?" Craig asked as he saw something out of the corner of his eye.  
  
"Trent's got the woman blues and Jimmy's here, Marco's... coming, and, well, you're at the mall. You gonna come?"  
  
"Yeah..." Craig replied in a distracted manner, but then snapped back, "oh yeah, I'll be there in a bit."  
  
"Cool, catch ya later, homey," Spinner said.  
  
"You're aware you sound more ghetto all the time, right, Spin?" Craig said, then laughed at the mask of confusion he could practically see on his friend's face, "Bye, Spin."  
  
He laughed and rolled his eyes a little as he pocketed his phone, walking around a little more.  
  
Paige, Hazel, and Terri were at one end of the store they'd decided to look in, Paige and Hazel trying to find a dress and trying to tal Terri into going to the dance.  
  
"But I don't WANT to go," Terri said.  
  
"Come ON, Ter; WHY don't you want to go?" Paige asked.  
  
"Because I... I don't really like the thought of dancing with ANYONE or going WITH anyone..." Terri replied.  
  
Hazel was about to speak up, but Paige knew what Terri was getting at so she kept her silent."Ter... I know Rick hurt you and you never wanna be hurt like that again, but... not ALL guys are like him. Believe me, I've been sort-of in the same position and know how you feel... Give guys a chance again. You need to."  
  
Terri sighed, but knew Paige was right, "I know... but it's..."  
  
"Hard, I know it is, Terri, but if you don't do it now, you never will be able to," Paige replied, hugging her dear friend.  
  
Terri nodded as she let go.  
  
"So, let's look for some dresses, huh?" Paige said in a more upbeat way, smiling and starting to look through racks.  
  
Terri smiled to herself as she watched Paige, then thought of her own situation. She felt really bad for what she had done to Trent, and hoped that he might forgive her... she really liked him and knew she might've screwed up for good, but if her lucky stars were there, she was wishing hard...  
  
Meanwhile, Ashley, Trixie, and Ellie were trying on the dresses they had found so far; but Trixie suddenly looked out the window of the store and saw Craig waving to her. She waved back, then he gestured for her to come out.   
  
"Hey El, I'll be back in a minute, okay?" she said, and before getting an answer was out of the store.  
  
Ellie watched her go and mused that she must've either seen something she wanted to look at or wanted to talk to someone.  
  
"Hey Craig!" Trixie said with a smile.  
  
"Hey Trix, whacha up to?" Craig asked with a smile back.  
  
"Oh not much, just looking at dresses with the girls," Trixie replied.  
  
"Ah, found the one you're gonna wear to the dance yet?" Craig wondered.  
  
"Nope, but I hope I will soon," Trixie answered with a sigh and small smile.  
  
"You will," Craig said as he got up, gently patting her arm and looking down slightly into her eyes, since she wasn't that much shorter than him.  
  
Trixie smiled and blushed a little at the extra attention Craig was paying her, "Well, thank you for having so much faith in me, but I'd better get back in there if I wanna find anything!"  
  
"Yeah, and I gotta make tracks over to your place," Craig said, "your brother's down and Spin's trying to get an all-guys kinda thing going to cheer him up."  
  
"Ah, I see; well, don't be too hard on him. See ya around!" Trixie said.  
  
"OKay, talk to ya later," Craig replied, surprising Trixie a little by the hug he gave her, then he walked away.  
  
Watching him for a moment as he left, she made her way back into the store to find herself a dress.  
  
Back at Trent's Jimmy, Marco, and Spinner were playing PS2 with Trent waiting to play the winner; the phone rang and he answered, thinking it might be Craig.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Is Trixie there?"  
  
"No, she's out with the girls, can I take a message?"  
  
"Just let her know JT called."  
  
"Ok, JT, I will, bye."  
  
He hung up and Spinner turned to him.  
  
"JT Yorke? Calling your sister?"  
  
"Yeah, so? He's been calling her a lot lately," Trent replied.  
  
"Well, he was acting like that with Paige a lot a couple of years ago, and it turned out that he had it bad for her," Spinner said.  
  
"Ah, so it looks like she might have a date to the dance after all," Trent said with a slight smile.  
  
"Dude, JT's a grade younger," Spinner pointed out.  
  
"And that makes a difference HOW?..." Trent wondered.  
  
Jimmy seemed sort of surprised by Trent's response, but backed him up, "What's the big deal, Spin?"  
  
"There are guys in our grade you know," Spinner said.  
  
"Yeah, but most of the ones that would be good to her are taken," Marco pointed out.  
  
"There's Craig - " Spinner was about to say, but Trent's bedroom door opening caused him to be quiet as Craig walked in.  
  
"What about me?..." Craig asked with a nervous laugh.  
  
"Uhh...." Spinner felt trapped.  
  
"He was testing his ESP!" Marco offered.  
  
The other guys looked at him funny for a moment, but quickly agreed with him. Craig went along with it, but didn't seem totally convinced...  
  
At this time, Emma, Liberty, and a few other members of the dance committee were working on the dance details outside on the school's front steps since it was such a lovely fall day when JT walked up.  
  
Emma looked surprised to see him there and also noticed the dejected sort of look on his face and excused herself for a moment.  
  
"Hey JT, what's up?" she asked.  
  
"Nothing, Em," JT replied, trying not to let her see his feelings and covering them up with a smile.  
  
Emma arched an eyebrow, "Yeah right; now come on, what's going on? You know you can talk to me."  
  
"Not about this, Em," JT was surprised to find himself saying.  
  
Emma now looked concerned, "JT... what's going on?"  
  
"Nothing, really, I'll be fine... I just... can't talk to you about this."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"'Cause I don't feel like being teased, okay?"  
  
Emma looked shocked, "Teased?..."  
  
"Yeah, Emma, that's all I've been getting from you guys since day one..." JT sighed.  
  
"Okay, what are we.... oh my gosh, are we talking about Trixie?"  
  
".... Maybe...."  
  
"JT, we were only teasing because we think it's a cute crush!" Emma said with a smile.  
  
"Yeah, but did you ever stop to think that this might be more than a crush?" JT asked seriously.  
  
Seriousness... something Emma hadn't seen much of in JT...  
  
"Wow... JT, I...."  
  
"This is more than what I thought I felt about Manny... or Miss Hatzilakos," he added for a little humor, "I really like Trixie and have been spending a lot of time with her"  
  
Emma couldn't help but gush a little, "That's cute, really it is, JT; you think she likes you, too?"  
  
"I don't know, that's my problem... I want her to like me and go to the dance with me..." JT sounded doubtful.  
  
"But you don't think she does?"  
  
"I don't know what's going on in her head..."  
  
"What's been happening?"  
  
"Well, I've kinda hinted to her there's a girl I like and ask her for pointers on how SHE would like a guy to act with her and all that... I've tried those things, but it's always passed as a joke or something," JT said, his frustration coming through. "I don't really think it's her fault or anything, but... Emma, what do you think?"  
  
"I think she might've been hurt," Emma said wisely, "in one or several past relationships, and she might not think that anyone CAN like her."  
  
JT raised an eyebrow, "Where DID you get that?..."  
  
"I'm a woman, JT," Emma raised her palms and shrugged, "you just know these things. Plus I've kinda talked to her some myself and when we started talking about boyfriends, she just hinted that there had been a couple of bad-ending relationships."  
  
JT got quiet and stared at the ground. Liberty then came over and asked Emma to come back soon because they needed her.  
  
"Emma, what should I do?..." JT asked pleadingly, almost desperately as Emma was about to walk away.  
  
Emma smiled, "Just be yourself - and follow whatever your heart tells you," she replied, then walked away.  
  
JT sighed then smiled to himself a little; he hoped this would turn out alright...  
  
Paige dropped Trixie off and picked Spinner up to take him home; Trixie got inside to find Jimmy, Trent, and Craig sitting in the living room watching TV.  
  
Trent looked up and waved to his sister, "Hey, how'd it go?"  
  
"Oh, FABBY!" Trixie grinned and giggled. "Found THE perfect dress AND shoes!"  
  
Jimmy sighed and smiled, "Oh yeah, Paige's definitely had an influence on her."  
  
Trixie stuck her tongue out at him, "Hey Jimmy, hey Craig; well, I'm gonna go upstairs and put this somewhere, 'kay?"  
  
"Alright," Trent replied, seeming a bit distracted by the TV.  
  
She sighed and shook her head good naturedly, making her way upstairs and to her room where she shut the door and turned her stereo on low volume while she silently admired her dress and daydreamed about how much fun the dance could be...  
  
But her daydreaming was interrupted by a light knocking on her door as she was turning on the Christmas lights she had hung all over her wall/ceiling borders.   
  
"Yeah?" she called, figuring it was Trent, but was surprised when they came in the door.  
  
"Hey... cool room," Craig said, shutting the door a little behind him.  
  
"Oh, hey Craig; thanks... have a seat," Trixie invited.  
  
So Craig came over and sat beside her on her bed; he saw the dress and smiled, "That's what you picked, huh?"  
  
"Yep," Trixie replied simply, "I hope it looks as good on dance night as it did in the dressing room...."  
  
It was black, her favorite color when it came to dresses; it was tank-topped and had two layers in a way. The first one was the dress itself, classic black, the second layer being a sheer black with felt black flower outlines with the slightest hint of silver here and there. The shoes were of course black sandal-like high heels.  
  
"It will look very good on you, I can tell," Craig replied, looking like he was imagining the dress on her as they spoke, making her laugh.  
  
"You think then, huh?" Trixie asked.  
  
Craig couldn't really help how he felt... he hadn't got to be around her near as much as some people had, but... to him she seemed very bright and cheerful. With the way she acted, she reminded him of a bubble, and with the slightest sharp thing could pop it. Or break her...  
  
"I know," Craig said honestly, "Trixie, you're beautiful inside and out... if that kind of personality doesn't make you look good in ANYTHING, I don't know what will."  
  
Was it just her or was he flirting?...   
  
"Well... thanks, I guess..." Trixie replied, seeming baffled.  
  
"Again" by Lenny Kravitz was playing on her stereo at that time. Craig started looking into her eyes, the browns and greens mixing together to share. But after a moment, he closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss her. She closed her eyes as well and allowed him to...  
  
When his tongue slid into her mouth, he leaned her back onto the bed and kept himself raised slightly over her, she wrapping her arms around his neck as they continued.  
  
But when he started planting feather-light kisses on her pale cheeks and slightly freckle-washed nose, her door opened slightly to reveal Trent there.  
  
Craig sat up quickly and Trixie was about to, but Trent stopped her, "Uh, don't stop on my account, personally I don't care... I was just gonna let you know that JT called, but you look kinda busy at the moment..."  
  
Trent walked out, closing the door behind him and Trixie stared up at the ceiling.  
  
Craig had seemed a little freaked before, but then relaxed back beside her, "So, where ...?" he was about to ask, but Trixie cut him off.  
  
"I think Joey's here," she said softly.  
  
He seemed a little let down, but smiled a small smile, "Okay... well, talk to you tomorrow then..." he kissed her cheek, then brushed his lips across hers once more, then walked out of the room, leaving Trixie laying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling as she had been before 


	9. If It Were Only As Simple As Confusion

CHAPTER NINE: IF IT WERE ONLY AS SIMPLE AS CONFUSION  
  
Trixie awoke the next day to Linkin Park blasting away from her brother's room across the hall; 'One definite way to tell Mom's done split...' she mused, then looked over to her clock to see what time it was. Oh well, almost time for her to wake up anyway...  
  
She rolled out of bed and landed in a heap on the floor. Trent's CD stopped and her door opened, revealing him peeking around and looking baffled at her being on the floor.  
  
"What are you doing down there?" he asked.  
  
Trixie blinked and looked around, then smiled sheepishly, "Not sure, really... I think I was trying to get out of bed."  
  
Trent laughed, then came in and helped her up, but Trixie could tell that her safety wasn't the only thing on his mind.  
  
"What's up?" she asked knowingly.  
  
He half smiled and sighed, looking up at her drowsily as he sat down on her unmade bed, "Nothing much... just kinda wondering about something."  
  
"Like?..."  
  
"You and Craig..."   
  
Trixie stared up at her ceiling with a sigh, flopping down beside Trent, "Nothing much to wonder about."  
  
"Dude... you two were making out on your bed last night and when he came downstairs, he was walking like a guy who'd just gotten woke up from a really good dream," Trent said, "so yeah, there's definitely something to wonder about."  
  
It was times like this Trixie wished that Trent would stop worrying about her, "Like I said, nothing much to worry about; I'm gonna go get ready."  
  
And with that, Trixie grabbed her clothes and went to the bathroom, leaving Trent to go back into his room and turn his music back on while he got ready.  
  
The night before, Craig and Jimmy had come out of Trent's house with Craig talking about Trixie and the kiss. Jimmy thought it was sort of funny, but yet almost questioned the whole thing when Craig talked about her face had gone blank after Trent came in.   
  
"I think I'm seriously gonna ask her to the dance," Craig said with excitement dancing in his voice. "What do you think?"  
  
"Look, just do whatever YOU think would work," Jimmy replied with a grin as he caught a cab, "I'm no "Dear Abby" or anything."  
  
Someone who'd been nearby caught most of what had been said and darted away, a mask of hurt on their face.  
  
Emma went into first period to find a note sitting on her desk. 'Chris?' she wondered... 'No... he doesn't write this neat...'  
  
Dear Emma,  
  
I know you nor I have been the best of people to eachother here as of late, and I know most of that was my fault, and I really wanted to apologize for being such a pain in the ass. Your friendship means a lot to me and I want that back more than anything. Please Emma, give me a second chance?  
  
Yours Truly,  
  
Manny.  
  
Emma started at the note for a moment and wondered. She cast a secretive glance to Manny, who was sitting alone in the corner; she really looked like she could use a real, true friend right now. She knew that if she ever wrote an apology note actually admitting SHE was wrong to someone, she'd certainly want them to consider it. Plus it seemed that Manny had cleaned up a lot this year... With that, she picked up her things and walked over beside Manny.  
  
"No one's perfect, I guess... and everyone deserves a chance for redemption," Emma said with a small smile to Manny.  
  
Manny flashed her 100-watt smile and hugged Emma, "Thank you so much, Emma... you really don't know how much this means to me..."  
  
As Emma hugged back, Manny's grin never left and almost seemed a bit malevolent... but then of course it could've been the lighting...  
  
Toby and JT walked into school, JT seeming a bit confused.  
  
"She never called back or anything," JT said, "I didn't think dress shopping took that long."  
  
Toby smirked, "Well ya gotta remember, most likely if she went with Paige then yeah, it was gonna certainly take awhile."  
  
After first period, Trent walked into Mrs. Kwan's room with Paige and Jimmy. Terri was sitting in her seat and practically jumped out of her seat when she saw Trent coming.  
  
"Trent... um, could I talk to you?" she asked.  
  
Even in Trent's sleepy state, his eyebrow shot up, "Sure, I guess..."  
  
Paige and Jimmy watched as Terri led Trent over to another part of the classroom, Paige smiling.  
  
"Well, looks like someone might've had a change of heart," she said.  
  
Jimmy shrugged a little, "It is possible..."  
  
Terri turned when they had gotten far enough away from everyone else and suddenly took an interest in her sneakers.  
  
"Look... Trent... I know I haven't been the BEST person to you about anything..." Terri began, but Trent cut her off.  
  
"Ter, I understand..."  
  
"Wait - I'm not finished, "Terri smiled, "I'm sorry I've been so distant about... going out and stuff... 'cause I really DO like you and, well... I just hope you'll forgive me and go to the dance with me."   
  
Trent blinked, "Y-you're asking ME to the dance???"  
  
Terri's smile got a little brighter, "Of course; I couldn't think of anyone I'd wanna go with more."  
  
Terri then kissed his cheek and started walking for her seat, leaving him dumbfound for a few more seconds before he got enough sense to go and sit in his seat.  
  
As for Trixie's second period, Miss. Hatzilakos was giving them a class-long test. JT secretly wrote a note and tossed it back-handed at Trixie's desk, praying that it would land where she could see it, but Miss H. couldn't.  
  
Trixie jumped a bit as a small piece of paper landed in her lap; she discreetly unwrapped the paper and read it, in JT's scrawly handwriting:  
  
Can we meet after school and talk?  
  
She smiled a little as she wrote back:  
  
I was gonna ask you the same thing eventually; yeah, I don't have any plans. Meet me by the water fountains, okay?  
  
She tossed it back to him and he got it and read it. He turned back to her with a smile and a wink to let her know he'd gotten the message.   
  
Then, the bell rang and everyone put their test papers up front and filed toward their next classes.  
  
Ellie caught up with Trixie while she was walking along, "Oh, hey El," she said.  
  
"Hey, Trixie; Marco was telling me something rather interesting this morning," Ellie said.  
  
"Like what?" Trixie wondered.  
  
Ellie lowered her voice to a hushed level, "Did you kiss Craig last night?"  
  
Trixie's mouth fell open, but then she closed it and said calmly, "What, did he tell every one of his friends?"  
  
"I dunno, that's hard to say," Ellie replied honestly, "I'll just warn you, like Ashley would if she knew about this; Craig might make a good friend, but I would never trust him as a boyfriend."  
  
Trixie nodded, "Thanks for the advice."  
  
"Not a problem," Ellie smiled a little as she caught up with Sean.  
  
"Hey El; 'sup, Trixie?" he said.  
  
"Not much... well, I guess I'll head on to class, see ya later," Trixie waved to them and started toward her next class, only to see Jay leering at her from his locker. She just held her head high and walked on past, not thinking much of anything about it.  
  
At lunch, Terri and Trent were acting like a couple and Trixie congratulated them on how things were working out. Ellie had come over to sit with them since Sean had checked out early for some reason or another and she was lonely.   
  
Craig was about to come over to their table when Trixie spotted him and quickly excused herself, saying something about going to talk to some other friends.  
  
"Probably JT," Paige said with a smile.  
  
"No doubt about that," Ashley added.  
  
"Why would she be going to see JT? She and Craig seem to have pretty good chemistry," Marco said, but then almost immediately regretted it.  
  
"Wait... she and CRAIG?" Ashley asked.  
  
Jimmy rolled his eyes, "What Marco here is trying to say is that he kissed her last night and he wants to take her to the dance."  
  
"She never said anything about liking Craig," Paige remarked.  
  
"When I asked her about it, she said there wasn't anything to wonder about," Trent added.  
  
"What's up guys?" Craig asked, sitting next to Jimmy.  
  
The girls got silent and slowly got up.  
  
"We're gonna go dump our trash," Hazel said, kissing Jimmy's cheek.  
  
So off the girls went.  
  
Craig looked a bit confused, "What?"  
  
"Dude," Spinner said, "you kiss Trixie once and you're in love with her?"  
  
Craig's eyebrows furrowed together, "Spin, I like her, okay? I never said anything about being in love with her."  
  
"Well you're making it apparent you feel something for her, telling everyone you kissed her and all," Trent pointed out.   
  
"Not everyone... just you guys," Craig gestured to his friends.   
  
"Yeah, but things DO manage to get around," Marco added.  
  
"What, does Ashley know or something?" Craig asked, seeming unphased, "we've sorta gotten past all that you know?"  
  
"I think the point is, don't go around saying too much before you know how she feels," Trent said, "I don't want anything getting started about her if she suddenly decides that she don't like you and goes out with someone else."  
  
Meanwhile, Trixie got over to Emma's table and ducked down behind her, "Howdy."  
  
Emma laughed, "Hey, who're you hiding from?"  
  
"Ah, not hiding really, just avoiding," Trixie grinned, then sat beside her, "hey JT, Tob, Ken!"  
  
"Hey," was chorused from the three. There was another girl there with long dark hair who Trixie hadn't seen before.  
  
"Trixie, this is Manny Santos," Emma introduced, "Manny, Trixie Miller."  
  
"Nice to meet you," Trixie said with a friendly smile.  
  
"You too," Manny replied with a similar smile, starting friendly conversation with her all on her own...  
  
After school that day, Paige asked Trixie if she wanted to go to The Dot with the gang (including Trent and Terri). She declined, saying she was going to meet a friend after school.  
  
"Craig?" Paige wondered.  
  
"Everyone's got that general assumption going, but that's far from the truth," Trixie replied with a small smile, "if you must know, my friend, it's JT."  
  
Paige smiled a little, "Ask him along."  
  
"Nah; I didn't get to talk to him yesterday and he's having some girl trouble, so..." Trixie trailed.  
  
"Okay, gotcha," Paige winked. "Well, have fun!"  
  
"You too, bye Paige."  
  
Trixie adjusted her glasses and walked off to the water fountain to find her mop-top buddy. As she neared it, she could see that he was standing there already and brushed a stray hair out of her face and slung her backpack over her shoulder.  
  
JT turned just in time to see Trixie approaching; as she did, a line to some oldies song that his dad had been listening to in the car on the way to school played through his mind:  
  
Won't you look my way, one before you go,  
  
and my eyes will say, what you ought to know.  
  
Well, you got me standin' deaf and blind.  
  
'Cause I see love as just a state of mind.  
  
And who knows what it is that we might find, if we try...  
  
"Hey JT," she said, stirring him from his thoughts, "so where we going?"  
  
"Uh... wanna go over to my house?" he asked.  
  
"Sure," Trixie shrugged.  
  
"My parent's will be at work til six or so, so we can pretty much do whatever we want, just gotta have the house clean before they get home," JT said with a grin.  
  
Trixie laughed, "Sounds cool."  
  
The gang was at The Dot later all talking and having a good time; before they had gone in, Craig had went by and asked Trent where Trixie was. When Trent said she was with JT, Craig looked a bit confused, but just smiled and thanked him, then went on home.  
  
"Oh my gosh, I SO cannot wait for this dance... has anyone heard what the theme's going to be??" Paige asked.  
  
"I don't know, but I've heard that it's going to be stars or something," Hazel replied.  
  
"Well I heard something about a fall theme," Spinner added.  
  
"Psh, you're ALL wrong 'cause I heard it's supposedly a "night of enchantment" sort of thing," Trent stated.  
  
Terri laughed at their playful arguing; but as she casually glanced out the window, something caught her eye and caused her to gasp a bit louder than she'd meant to.  
  
"What's wrong, Ter?" Trent asked, placing a concerned hand on her back.  
  
"Oh, nothing... just a hiccup... excuse me," she got up and walked calmly to the restroom.  
  
When she got in there, she looked into the mirror for a moment before scolding herself. 'You're just seeing things, Terri, calm down before you worry someone!'  
  
"Terri? Something wrong? You look like you saw a ghost," Paige asked as she came into the restroom beside her and applied lipgloss.  
  
"Oh I'm fine... just some hiccups," Terri replied, hoping that would stop her friend's questioning, which it did.  
  
Jimmy seemed a bit uneasy when Terri walked off and Paige walked off after her.  
  
"What's up, Jimmy?" Hazel wondered.  
  
"I don't know... but something's not just right," Jimmy replied.  
  
"What, with Terri?" Trent asked, "She said she had the hiccups."  
  
"Yeah, but I don't think so..." Jimmy said, his face contorted into a serious mask. "But I won't say anything 'cause I don't know for sure... I just hope Terri would..."  
  
Almost everyone except Trent got what he meant by that, but he decided not to ask.  
  
At JT's, he and Trixie got something to drink and went up to his room to talk for a bit.  
  
Trixie laid on his bed for a moment before she turned to him, sitting in his computer chair. "You know, something rather odd happend to me last night..."  
  
"Like what?" JT asked, getting a sip of his drink and looking at her inquiringly.  
  
"Well, Craig came into my room last night after I got home from shopping; we talked a little bit, then... he kissed me," Trixie explained.  
  
JT's face fell a little, but he caught himself before Trixie could notice, "Really? Hey wow, sounds like someone likes you..." he said, sounding a bit shakier than he'd intended to.  
  
"Yeah... one problem; I'm not sure what to think of him."  
  
Ah, a glimmer of hope. "Whaddya mean?"  
  
"Well..." Trixie smiled a bit as she recalled the kiss, "it was great and all that, the kiss was... really great... and he's cute. But thing is, I don't know him well enough to know if I like him or not, and people have been telling me things about him."  
  
JT nodded, "Yeah, there were a lot of problems with him, Ashley, and Manny."  
  
"Manny?" Trixie seemed a bit surprised.  
  
"Yeah... but anyway, back to what you were saying?"  
  
"Yeah, well... to be honest, I don't think I could ever LIKE him like that, you know? He seems a bit desperate at the moment, plus he's more like someone I'd be best friends with," Trixie said honestly.  
  
JT pretended to be offended, "Then what am I?"  
  
Trixie laughed, "My best friend, of course."  
  
"Oh, by the way... you know all the advice you've been giving me about that girl? Nothing's worked so far," JT said.  
  
"How come?" Trixie wondered.  
  
"Well any time I try anything, it seems like nothing goes right, like she doesn't believe or like me," JT confessed.  
  
Trixie frowned, "Hmm... that's really strange. JT, you're a likeable guy, really, so I don't see how this isn't working for you."  
  
"What should I do?"  
  
Trixie sighed, "Maybe she's not worth your time..."  
  
JT blinked increduously, "What? Not worth my time??? Trixie, this girl means a lot to me, of course she's worth my time!"  
  
"Okay, okay, calm down..."  
  
"Sorry..."  
  
"It's okay; alright, one more operation. This should actually work," she said.  
  
"What is it?..."  
  
Trent got home a few minutes before Trixie did and told her about the odd occurences while they were all at The Dot. She agreed that it seemed a bit odd, but assured him that he shouldn't think too much about it and get some sleep. He was so tired that he agreed and went straight to bed.  
  
Later on in the night, Trixie awoke to an odd noise at her window. 'What the hell?...' she thought to herself. She got up and looked out, seeing JT out on the front lawn, waiting for her to open her window.  
  
"Hey Trix! Come here, I need to talk to you!" he said in a loud whisper.  
  
Trixie sighed and wiped her tired eyes, "Hang on..."  
  
She straightened her ponytail and wiped at her sleep-smudged eyeliner and decided she didn't look completely grotesque and slipped on a pair of jeans over her sleep shorts and walked downstairs and out the front door.  
  
Seeing JT standing over by their storage building, she walked over to him, "Sorry I look so sloppy, but this is what's expected of someone who's just got woke up and is only haf concious, now what do you want?"  
  
JT couldn't help but chuckle at her ramble, "No Trix, the just-got-up look actually goes for you."  
  
"Haha very funny, what's the deal?"  
  
"I was being serious... you actually look kinda pretty without so much makeup... not like you weren't pretty with it or something," JT added quickly.  
  
"Okay? JT, what did you wake me up for?" Trixie asked, seeming to be loosing her patience.  
  
He blinked and for once, Trixie saw nervousness in his eyes as he reached up and brushed a stray hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear, "Trix, I... I like you."  
  
Trixie's green eyes widened a little bit, but then they crinkled in laughter, "Oh man, that was a good one!"  
  
"What? Trixie, I'm being serious! I'm not kidding!" JT said, not caring to let his frustration show.   
  
Trixie stopped laughing and stared into his eyes, "Wait... what happened to the other girl?"  
  
"YOU were the girl, Trixie! I liked - like - YOU!" JT said.  
  
Trixie's stare then went down to the ground and she chewed her lip nervously, "I never noticed..."  
  
"Well I do; and I tried everything, but you only took it as a joke. I was about to give up, but I got advice from someone else and knew I had to keep trying," JT said honestly. "Trixie, I've gone this far, done all this to try and prove that I like you and have felt like it was all a waste. But now I've actually come out and said it, so I hope you'll at least consider being my girlfriend and going to the dance with me."  
  
Trixie was unsure how to respond to thisand it was apparent on her face that she was thinking this.  
  
"Take all the time you need... I'm willing to wait," JT said sweetly, then walked a step closer to her and kissed her cheek softly, looking into her eyes once and then turning to walk away.  
  
Trixie stood there in her driveway for a moment, looking up at the moon and trying to make sense of what had just happened. But it all became clearer in that split second than anything else in her life...  
  
She liked JT...   
  
"JT, wait!" she called, sprinting after him.  
  
When he turned around, she was standing there; she wrapped her arms around his neck and gently kissed his lips.  
  
"You don't have to wait anymore; I've put you through enough waiting," she said with a smile.  
  
JT smiled the biggest smile she'd ever seen him smile as he cupped her cheek with his hand and kissed her once more, "I'll see you tomorrow, Trix."  
  
"Night, JT," she said, walking back up to the house. When she got inside, Trent was sitting on the couch arm with a smirk.  
  
"I knew it," he said with a sneaky, yet sleepy grin.  
  
"Oh shut up and go to bed," Trixie replied roughly, but smiled, knowing she wasn't and couldn't be angry at her twin. "Goodnight." 


	10. Sun Going Down and The Trees Cast Their ...

CHAPTER TEN: SUN GOING DOWN AND THE TREES CAST THEIR SHADOWS  
  
The next day at school, Trent met up with Terri, Paige, Spinner, Jimmy, and Hazel in the hall and walked with them to their classes, giving Terri a shy kiss on the cheek before he and Paige went on to first period.  
  
"Oh, I think Trixie finally has a date for the dance," Trent said.  
  
"Really? Who?" Paige was curious, but then stopped when she looked up the hall.  
  
Trixie had walked into school the next day not knowing what to expect; but when she got to her locker and saw JT standing with Toby at his locker, her heart fluttered just a little bit as she turned and started rearranging her locker as she got her appropriate books.  
  
A moment later, she felt a pair of hands over her eyes and she smiled a little bit.  
  
"Guess who?" the person said.  
  
Trixie's smile faded when she heard their voice, "Hey Craig," she said, turning and getting away from his hands.  
  
Craig smiled, "How are you?"  
  
"Oh, peachy keen," Trixie replied, her voice lowering an octave.  
  
"I was trying to find you yesterday, but any time I tried to catch you, you were gone before I could," he said, leaning casually on a locker beside hers.  
  
"Yeah... I was kinda busy yesterday," Trixie said.  
  
Craig looked down at his sneakers and then back up at her again, "Well say, uh, I was wanting to ask you... if you're not uh, too busy Friday night, would you like to be my - "  
  
"Hey Craig," JT said as he walked up to Trixie and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "what's up?"  
  
"Oh, not much... are you two, uh?..." he made a 'together' sort of hand motion.  
  
Trixie nodded with a shy smile, "Yeah... now anyway, what were you going to ask me?"  
  
"Ah, it was nothing," Craig said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "I'll see ya around." With that, he took off rather quickly.  
  
Trixie blinked and turned to JT, "Sooo, we gonna walk or what?"  
  
JT looked after Craig a moment, then at Trixie, "You don't have feelings for him, do you?"  
  
"No!" Trixie giggled, taking ahold of JT's hand, "come on, JT, you ought to know better; I said last night he was more of someone I could see as a best friend."  
  
"Well okay... so long as that's all," JT joked, tickling her and running away.  
  
"JT! OOooh, you're SO dead!" she exclaimed, running after him.  
  
"Hey hey hey, no running in the halls!" Mr. Raditch said as he walked out of his office; boy and girl stopped running and walked at a normal pace. When Mr. Raditch wasn't looking, they joined hands and took off at a sprint to Trixie's first period.  
  
Mr. Raditch continued to patrol the halls until the bell rang, but just before it did, he looked over to a figure in the corner.  
  
"Jay, get to class, you know the rules," he said with a stern eye.  
  
"Right, Raditch.. right..." Jay replied sarcastically, eyeballing an empty space like someone was standing there, then moved on to his class.  
  
Paige, Ashley, and Trent were talking about the dance when Trixie walked in; as she was coming in, Jay came in from behind her and bumped into her.  
  
"Oh, pardon me," he said sarcastically, then walked over to his seat. Trixie just rolled her eyes and walked on.  
  
"Congradulations, hun; ya got a date after all," Paige said, patting Trixie's arm as she came over to the seat saved for her.  
  
"For awhile, I thought it was gonna be you and Craig," Ashley said with a slight smile.  
  
"Nah," Trixie replied, "I don't like him that way."  
  
"What about the kiss?" Ashley was curious.  
  
"That was kinda spur of the moment," Trixie replied, "he started and I didn't really know what to do so I just kissed back."  
  
"'Least you weren't pulling a Manny," Ashley said with a tone of bitterness.  
  
"Ma-"  
  
Mr. Simpson then came into the room and quieted everyone for the morning report.  
  
Second period, Trent and Jimmy talked about stuff they were going to do the night of the dance for their girlfriends while Paige and Terri talked about the events that had occured the night before.  
  
"Got any special plans?" Jimmy asked Trent.  
  
"For what?" he wondered.  
  
"The dance, Terri, you know? Anything to surprise her?" Jimmy prodded.  
  
"Oh... well no, nothing yet," Trent replied, a little embarassed now that Jimmy had brought it up.  
  
Jimmy leaned in closer to Trent so the girls wouldn't hear his plans, "Roses... a dozen of them, when I pick her up... and get this - I'm gonna rent a limo."  
  
Trent's eyes went wide, "All over one dance?"  
  
"Well you know how the ladies like it when you treat 'em special," Jimmy said, winking.  
  
Trent thought about this long and hard, wondering what he could POSSIBLY do for Terri the night of the dance...  
  
"Ter, you know I don't really believe what you told me in the bathroom, right?" Paige asked quietly.  
  
"Paige, let it go; I was probably seeing things anyway," Terri replied, but then regretted saying anything.  
  
"Aha, then you DID see something!" Paige pointed a finger, "Terri, I'm your friend, please tell me?"  
  
Terri rolled her eyes and wrote it on a piece of paper. As she handed it to Paige and she was about to read it, Mrs. Kwan came up to them and snatched it from her.  
  
"Girls, no more notes, this is important stuff for your test I'm going over," Mrs. Kwan lectured them.  
  
Both girls fidgited in their seats as they chorused, "Sorry, Mrs. Kwan."  
  
She nodded after giving them one final stern look, then continued her lesson.  
  
"Terri, just tell me," Paige hissed.  
  
Terri sighed, "Later, okay?" she whispered through her teeth, then continued taking notes from what Mrs. Kwan was saying.  
  
Trent looked up from his notes and over at Terri, who was working on hers; he smiled a little, happy to know that he was actually going to go to the dance with him after all. Of course after a moment of his staring, she looked up and gave him a look like 'Something wrong with my face?' and he just shook his head and smiled, winking his "deadly" wink. Terri smiled and blushed a bit, going back to her notes, but couldn't help a side-glance once in awhile.  
  
Paige noticed this little sign of affection and couldn't help but smile herself; she knew Trent would be good for Terri after all she had been through, and that she would do him some good as well.  
  
Trent sighed as he thought about many things; one, how sleepy he was. Two, what the heck he was going to do for Terri dance night. And three... for some reason, he couldn't get the night before out of his head, and how concerned Jimmy had seemed to be about it. After thinking about it for awhile, he came up with one possibility and then quickly dismissed it. Nah, too freaky-movie sounding...  
  
Suddenly, Mr. Raditch came over the intercom:  
  
"Teachers of Degrassi, please turn on your television sets, I repeat, please turn on your television sets..."  
  
Mrs. Kwan got quiet and walked over to her TV as a small commotion of whispers came from her students; before she turned the TV on, she placed her finger to her lips to quiet the din.  
  
She turned the TV on and Liberty Van Zandt was sitting in her chair.  
  
"Fellow students of Degrassi, a crime has taken place here in our school, I fear to say, much more serious than one we've ever had before..."  
  
Yet another commotion of loud whispers came up and Mrs. Kwan shushed everyone.  
  
"A thousand dollars was taken from the caf's cash register this morning, presumably while the lunch ladies were examining probable causes for a near fire; if you know who might have committed this crime, please see Mr. Raditch immediatly. Thank you."  
  
In Miss Hatzilako's class, the announcement soon ended and she turned off her TV, leaving the students to start talking amongst themselves.  
  
"I wonder who did it?" Toby asked, turning to JT and Trixie.  
  
"No doubt it was probably Sean and his gang..." Emma mumbled.  
  
"Hey, I heard that!" Sean said from across the room.  
  
Emma rolled her eyes.  
  
"Well hey, anyone could've done it," Trixie said, trying to keep a fight from breaking out.  
  
"Yeah, ANYONE," JT replied, "but who'd be stupid enough t-"  
  
But before he got his last words out, Mr. Raditch opened the classroom door, "I'd like to see JT Yorke and Trixie Miller, please?"  
  
Trixie and JT looked ultimately confused, and Sean's head perked up as he watched the three figures' retreating backs, "What the hell?..." he mumbled to himself. 


	11. Tangled Webs

CHAPTER ELEVEN: TANGLED WEBS  
  
JT and Trixie confusedly followed Mr. Raditch down to his office where he led them; they went past Trent's room and Trixie wondered if he could possibly know what was going on...  
  
Trent looked out Mrs. Kwan's outside window just in time to see Trixie and JT being escorted somewhere by Mr. Raditch. His eyes widened a little, and Jimmy quickly noticed and looked in the direction he was looking in.   
  
"Hm, wonder what's up with that?" Jimmy mused in a whisper.   
  
"I don't know... would they get in trouble for PDA here?" Trent asked.  
  
"PDA? What's that?" Jimmy wondered.  
  
"Public Display of Affection - you know, kissing and stuff," Trent explained.  
  
"Oh, nah, they don't usually get sent to HIM for anything like that," Jimmy assured his friend.  
  
But Trent wasn't really all that assured; for the rest of the period, what could possibly be going on tugged at the back of his mind and almost forced him to think about it.  
  
Terri looked over at Trent and noticed the look of distress on his face and in his eyes. Concerned, she wrote him a quick note, seeing as Mrs. Kwan had now given them some study time; folding it carefully, she then tossed it cautiously into his lap.  
  
Trent looked down into his lap when he felt something land there and quickly opened it when he discovered that it was a note:  
  
What's wrong?  
  
He wrote in reply:  
  
Probably nothing, just me worrying as usual.  
  
Terri read this response and was now more curious than ever:  
  
About what?  
  
Trent sighed, then replied:  
  
I saw Mr. Raditch leading JT and Trixie somewhere.  
  
Terri's eyes widened:  
  
I wonder what could be going on... it's probably nothing, so I wouldn't worry if I were you.  
  
Trent smiled a little despite his mood:  
  
I appreciate that, but you know I'm gonna worry anyway.  
  
After that, the notes stopped coming and Terri reached her hand over to his shoulder and rubbed it gently; when he looked up at her and smiled, she blushed shyly and removed her hand, staring intently at the papers on her desk.  
  
Paige saw this and smiled a little; maybe there wasn't much wrong with Terri - after all, she seemed to be doing pretty well with Trent.  
  
In Miss Hatzilako's class, Sean was getting more and more antsy all the time, wondering what the hell could be going on that Mr. Raditch would want JT and Trixie for. So he raised his hand, "Miss H., may I use the washroom?"  
  
Miss Hatzilako's nodded and Sean walked out the door, not looking back once to see Emma's cold look.  
  
"Whoa Emma, calm down, you're gonna kill the guy with those daggers," Toby warned lightly.  
  
"I just can't help thinking that he might have something to do with that whole robbery thing; I bet he and Jay are going to skip the rest of the day and squander their "earnings" or something..." Emma replied bitterly as she turned around in her seat.  
  
Toby just sighed and shook his head lightly.  
  
Meanwhile, Sean got down to Mr. Raditch's office and stood at a safe distance, watching and trying to listen in on the activity going on inside...  
  
"Mr. Yorke, Miss Miller, it has come to my attention that you two might know something about the robbery from the caf this morning; would this be true?" Mr. Raditch asked as he paced in front of the two teenagers.  
  
JT got a look of confusion on his face as he honestly replied, "Well no sir, we don't."  
  
"Really? Miss Miller, will you please empty out your pockets?" Mr. Raditch indicated her denim jacket.  
  
Trixie's mouth opened as if she were about to say something, but JT cut in, "Trix, just do it; to prove we have nothing to hide," he said as calmly as he could.  
  
"Just empty your pockets please, Miss Miller," Mr. Raditch insisted.  
  
Trixie oblidged and as she did, she felt something that made her face contort into a look of horror...  
  
A rather hefty stack of cash was there in her pocket!!!!  
  
She had no choice but to pull it out; Mr. Raditch looked almost as surprised as JT, but not too much.  
  
Trixie was at a loss for words and looked like she was going to cry at any moment; she looked to JT as if trying to assure him with her eyes that she didn't do it.  
  
"Mr. Raditch, you honestly don't believe that we did this, do you?!" JT asked increduously.  
  
"Well I believe what I see; and you two DID seem in an awful big hurry this morning, what running to class and all," Mr. Raditch shoved this in their faces.  
  
Mr. Raditch grabbed his phone and started dialing a number rather quickly.  
  
JT looked to Trixie and saw she was terrified; he wrapped an arm around her and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, we'll find out what the hell's going on."  
  
But all of a sudden, someone burst through the door of the office, causing Mr. Raditch to hang up the phone.  
  
"Mr. Cameron, this is a private discussion, you'll have to wait outside," Mr. Raditch tried to say as his secretary came up behind Sean and tried to escort him out.  
  
"But Mr. Raditch, Trixie and JT didn't do it!" Sean insisted.  
  
Mr. Raditch looked up at Sean from his desk in surprise, "You know something about this?"  
  
Sean couldn't believe what he was about to do, but he knew these two didn't deserve what they could be possibly be getting, "Yes... they didn't steal the money... Jay did."  
  
"You know this for a fact, Mr. Cameron?" Mr. Raditch asked.  
  
"Yes sir... I was there when he did it," Sean replied, "he was trying to get me to help him, but I wouldn't. I was leaving when he did it, but I DID see him do it."  
  
Mr. Raditch blinked in surprise, "Well if this is the case, then how did the money get on Miss Miller?"  
  
"That I don't know... all I know was that he said something about putting it in a safe place and then getting it after school," Sean replied.  
  
Trixie then recalled the events from that morning...  
  
"Mr. Raditch, I think I know," she said, "as I went into first period this morning, Jay bumped into me... he could've put the money in my pocket that way?"  
  
Sean nodded with a roll of his eyes, "Sounds like Jay... and I bet I know what he was gonna do to get it back, too..."  
  
Trixie, JT, and Mr. Raditch dared not ask Sean what he meant, but now they knew what was going on and they all felt better.  
  
"Well in that case, I do believe I need to get Jay in here and see what should be done about this," Mr. Raditch said, dismissing the three to class.  
  
Trixie, JT, and Sean walked out of his office and decided to just walk around the halls, since their next period was only a few minutes ahead anyway.  
  
"What made you come forward?" JT asked, "I mean, no offense, but you and Jay are pretty tight."  
  
Sean sighed, "'Cause I knew what you guys would get if you were successfully framed for it," he replied simply, "that's all you need to know... plus I think it was pretty low-down of him to plant it on you and Trix like that."  
  
"Well, thank you Sean," Trixie said sincerely, "we really appreciate it... but Jay will probably be pretty pissed at you."  
  
"Pfeh, who cares? Besides, his attitude's been getting on my nerves here lately, anyway," Sean replied.  
  
"You and Ellie sit at lunch with us today then," Trixie offered, "I'm sure no one would care."  
  
"Uh, I don't know about that..." Sean tried to protest.  
  
"Please do!" Trixie stepped in front of him, "This is the second time you've helped me out somehow! I WANT you there, okay?" she grinned.  
  
Sean nodded and smiled, "Alright; me and El'll be there," he replied, lightly hitting her arm and walking off in the direction of his next class, "later!"  
  
JT grinned and put an arm around her, "Yet another Miller does justice to Jay - and in the most subtle of ways as well," he said with a British accent.  
  
Trixie laughed, "Yeah, just hope that Trent doesn't run into him later or that restraining order might be broken."  
  
"I don't think that'll happen," JT replied, indicating toward Degrassi's front doors; Jay was being escorted out of the building in handcuffs.  
  
"Oh whoa..." Trixie said, very shocked.   
  
Next thing, the bell rang and Trent scurried out of the room so fast that he left Jimmy, Paige, and even Terri behind.  
  
"Ter, I'd be going after him if I were you," Paige said.  
  
"He's trying to find Trixie probably," Jimmy replied.  
  
"Yeah, he was awful worried," Terri added.  
  
"Worried about WHAT? Okay, SOMEONE fill me in here!" Paige demanded.  
  
"He saw her and JT going with Mr. Raditch somewhere, so now he's practically been having an aneurysm all class wondering what the heck's going on," Jimmy filled her in.  
  
"Oh... JT? Trixie? Hm, wonder what could've happened..."  
  
At lunch that day, everyone had already been filled in about the Jay incident, and how Sean had come forward about how Jay had done it.  
  
"Wow, it seems that Sean might be changing for the better," Paige said with a smile.  
  
"Yeah, considering that he ratted pretty much his only friend out like that," Spinner added.  
  
Sean and Ellie then walked up.  
  
"Hey guys," Trixie said with a smile, "have a seat!"  
  
It was a little awkward at first, seeing as they weren't used to Sean hanging around, but Jimmy made the first move since he and Sean had come past their own barriers last year, "'Sup, Sean?" he put his fist up so Sean could hit it.  
  
"Not much, Jimmy," Sean replied, hitting his fist just enough to let him know everything was cool.   
  
After that, things became less and less awkward and the guys were actually making plans to hang out and shoot some basketball after school. Sean included.  
  
Trixie went to see JT and everyone just talked and made more plans for the dance.  
  
"So Sean, you gonna go to the dance?" Trent asked.  
  
"Eh, I don't know; dances aren't really my scene," Sean replied.  
  
"Oh come on, Sean, do it for Ellie; after all, she has a dress and everything... I know, El, you were wanting to talk him into it yourself, but sometimes it takes a little persuasion from friends," Paige, surprisingly, said with a wink.  
  
"It's tomorrow night, it's not too late to reconsider," Ashley added.  
  
Sean smiled; it seemed that life might actually start getting better for him now, "I'll think about it," he replied with a smile to Ellie.  
  
"This is pretty awesome," Marco said to Trent.  
  
"What is?" Trent asked.  
  
"That everyone's starting to get along and everything... Sean and I were never exactly the best of friends or anything, but maybe now things could change," he replied.  
  
Trent smiled, "He's getting a shot at redeeming himself, hopefully he won't blow it."  
  
"I don't think he will," Ellie replied slyly, turning toward them.  
  
Terri looked on past everyone else and saw Craig wandering by himself, "Just too bad it won't be so easy for Craig with some people," she said.  
  
Ellie nodded, knowing what she meant.  
  
Trent excused himself and gave Terri a kiss, then went to talk to Craig.  
  
"Hey," he said to the slightly taller boy.  
  
Craig turned to see Trent standing there, "Oh hey; how's it goin'?"  
  
"Eh, it's alright," Trent replied.  
  
Craig nodded.They stood in silence for a moment until Trent spoke up again.  
  
"What's goin' on?" he asked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Craig wondered, giving a small, fake laugh.  
  
"Well you've not really been talking a lot, and in class you seemed distracted," Trent pointed out, "just wondering if anything might be wrong."  
  
"Oh, nah," Craig replied with a smile, "nothing's wrong, I'm just thinking a lot."  
  
"If you say so; well, I'm gonna go on back over there, I'll talk to ya later," Trent waved as he walked off.  
  
"Later," Craig replied, then walked off in another direction himself.  
  
Ever since Trixie had gotten to their table, Manny seemed to be a bit uncomfortable, but Trixie didn't notice; only Emma seemed to notice Manny's sudden change in behavior.  
  
They were all talking until Toby and Kendra went to dump their trash, but then Trixie turned to Emma, JT, and Manny with an idea.  
  
"Hey, how about you guys come to my house tonight and we can all hang out? Emma, you can bring Chris if you wanna, and Manny, you could bring your boyfriend; JT, wanna come?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, I can't, I've got a test tomorrow and I SO need to study," Emma said, "but not to worry, we can all hang out at the dance tomorrow night."  
  
"Cool; Manny, you wanna come?" Trixie asked with a smile.  
  
"I don't think I can this afternoon," Manny replied.  
  
"Oh, well okay; JT, how about you?" Trixie said.  
  
"No, I actually have to study too," JT replied in a serious voice.  
  
"Oh..." Trixie trailed.  
  
Emma raised an eyebrow though, "JT, study? Come on, could you not think of a better joke than that?" she asked increduously.  
  
Trixie laughed and smacked JT on the arm, "You jerk, you had me goin' for a minute!"  
  
"I know, I'm just that good," JT replied, wrapping her in a one-armed hug to apologize.  
  
Later that evening, Trent met up with his sister.  
  
"Hey, me, Jimmy, Sean, Spinner, and Marco are going over to the basketball court, we'll probably be home in a couple of hours or so," he said.  
  
"Okay; JT and I will probably hang around the house or something unless we decide to take a walk or something," Trixie replied, the two going their separate ways.  
  
So the guys made their way down to the basketball court, Jimmy passing the ball back and forth to each of the guys as they made their way there.  
  
"Okay, Spin and Sean on a team, me and Trent the other; Marco - "  
  
"I know, keep score," Marco grinned. He didn't feel left out, he usually didn't play that much anyway, he preferred watching.  
  
While they were playing, Craig came by and sat beside Marco.  
  
"Hey Craig," Marco said, "I see you have the camera; inspiration?"  
  
"Well not really, just figured I'd bring it out and see what I could do," Craig replied with a slight smile.  
  
After a moment or so, he got up and started taking different frames of the guys; he thought they were pretty good and vowed that he would make them copies. Spinner would probably frame any of the ones that had him in them. Not because of the handiwork behind the camera, mind you, but just because HE was there.  
  
Meanwhile, JT and Trixie were just getting to Trixie's house when she shivered.  
  
"Ya cold?" JT asked, about to offer her his hoodie.  
  
"Oh no, just thinking about something," Trixie replied.  
  
"Ah," JT nodded, seeming to get what she meant, "I wouldn'tve let Jay hurt you if that'd been the case. Plus I'm sure Sean wouldn'tve either."  
  
"Probably not... oh well let's get inside, I'm creeping myself out..." Trixie stated, she and JT getting inside.  
  
She went into the kitchen to get some drinks while JT went on up to her room; though she knew nothing could happen now, she still kept a cautious eye about her to make sure nothing fishy was going on. Freaking herself out yet again, she bounded up the stairs and to the safety of her room with JT.  
  
"What's the matter? You look like you saw a ghost," JT wondered.  
  
"Oh I'm fine, just being paranoid," Trixie replied, giving him his drink and setting hers down, then sitting beside him on her bed.  
  
JT smiled a little and wrapped an arm around her, "Not to worry, I won't let any bad guys get you," he replied, "though I'm pretty sure there's no chance of it anyway."  
  
Trixie blushed a little bit, "One reason I was gonna have everyone over... so it could take my mind off being paranoid."  
  
JT scoffed, "So I'm not good enough alone? Well, I see how you are," he folded his arms.  
  
"JT, I didn't mean it like that..." Trixie said, laying her head on his shoulder, "pleease forgive me."  
  
JT smiled, "Fine, but only this time," he replied, wrapping an arm around shoulders again, taking her hand with his free hand.  
  
Trixie sighed contentedly; JT turned and looked into her eyes, giving her a genuinely sweet smile and squeezing her hand. He tilted his head toward hers as their eyes closed and their lips met in the middle. His hand let go of hers and went to the small of her back as he leaned toward her, causing her to lean back. This was somewhat similar to the situation she and Craig had been in a couple of nights ago, but yet not. This time, she actually felt something in the kiss, not just the kiss itself...  
  
After awhile, the guys all decided to come back and crash at Trent's place for awhile; Craig declined, saying he was going to see about getting the pictures done in the blackroom that Joey had made out of a large closet near the attic when he had first moved in.  
  
Trent looked around; no note or anything saying she and JT were gone. So most likely he either went home or she and JT were up in her room.  
  
The phone rang as Trent was getting drinks and snacks, so he answered. Turned out to be Terri, so he got the food and drinks together on a tray and took them into the livingroom where the guys had already started watching TV.  
  
Spinner looked from Trent to the rest of the guys, "Hmm, it must be the lovely Miss Terri he has on the phone!"  
  
Trent rolled his eyes and went back into the kitchen with the phone.  
  
Spinner looked to the rest of the guys, "Who wants to bet JT's still up there?"  
  
"He might be, but would that be any of our business? I think not, now watch TV like a good Spinner," Jimmy replied.  
  
Spinner gave him an incredulous look, "Dude, come on, I'm just curious."  
  
"Curiosity killed the cat," Sean said.  
  
"He's right," Marco added.  
  
"Sean, I dare you to go up there and see," Spinner said.  
  
"No way, man," Sean replied.  
  
"Come on, it's not like I'm having you take a picture or anything," Spinner pointed out, "just go see - make sure they're not doing anything "naughty"."  
  
Sean rolled his eyes, "I'm sure they're not; and if Trent were concerned, he would've went up there himself."  
  
"Just DO IT; that's all you have to do, just look," Spinner said.  
  
Jimmy said, "You might as well, or Spinner might himself; don't want THAT happening..."  
  
Sean sighed, "Fine... which room's hers?"  
  
They told him and he walked up the stairs, found her door, and stood beside it a moment; when he couldn't hear anything from inside but music, he was just a bit curious. He tried to refrain from opening the door, but he couldn't. When he opened it, he couldn't help but emit a silent chuckle.  
  
Trixie and JT lay on her bed fast asleep, JT holding Trixie in his arms and she using his chest as a pillow. It didn't appear as if they had done anything or anything like that, they'd just fallen asleep.  
  
When Sean got back downstairs, he had six curious eyes upon him. He just smiled to himself as he said, "They're doing homework."  
  
After the guys had went home, Trent came through to check on Trixie since he hadn't seen her all evening; he assumed she might be working on something or asleep. But he didn't expect what he walked in to find.   
  
"Trixie!" he whispered loudly; she stirred and opened a sleepy eye.   
  
"Trent?"   
  
"Do you know what time it is???" he asked.  
  
"Uh..." she looked at her clock, "11:00?"  
  
"Yeah, now explain that," he pointed behind her.  
  
Trixie was then aware of the arms around her waist and turned to find JT there, "JT!!! JT, we fell asleep!"  
  
"WHAT???" JT got alarmedand sat up quickly, then saw Trent, "We didn't do anything, honest!!"  
  
"Well I didn't think you had, but your parents might be pretty worried about you at this time of night," Trent replied.  
  
"I was going to stay the night at Toby's tonight... his parents are out til midnight... Well, I could make the walk from here," JT said, about to get up, but Trixie held his hand.  
  
"Wait, couldn't you call Toby and possibly stay here? It's not like mom would know or anything," she said, then looked to her brother, "what do you think?"  
  
Trent raised his eyebrows, "Well, she probably wouldn't, but I don't know..."  
  
"Pleeeease? Trent, you don't realize how important this would be to me!!" Trixie pleaded with her green eyes.  
  
Trent sighed, "Okay; so long as no one gets killed, it should be okay."  
  
"Trix, you call Toby, I'll have a talk with your brother," JT said, hoping over the bed and walking out of the room with Trent as Trixie got her extension and called over at Toby's house.  
  
"Are you wanting to talk to me because you know why she wants you to stay here?" Trent asked with crossed arms.  
  
"Yeah, actually..."  
  
"Does it have something to do with Jay?"  
  
"How'd you know?"   
  
"Sean told me, or, rather said something about what Jay's plans were to do with the money, including getting it back; I wish SHE had told me, but as usual she didn't wanna start something..."  
  
"Well yeah... and she's pretty paranoid about it, she wanted me, Emma, Chris, AND Manny here so she wouldn't think about it."  
  
"Yeah well, just don't take advantage of her, okay?"  
  
"I won't. I don't mind staying here, I just don't know about your mom..."  
  
"If anything comes up I'll talk to her."  
  
"OKay, thanks, Trent."  
  
"Not a problem JT; I know you wouldn't hurt her, that's why I trust you."  
  
JT smiled, "And I never will," he then went back into her room. 


	12. Everything You Want

CHAPTER TWELVE: EVERYTHING YOU WANT.... AND MIGHT NOT EXPECT AS WELL  
  
A/N: BIG shoutout to everyone who's reviewed on this story! :D Thank you guys, every little word of encouragement is wonderful! ;) I love you guys!! :D And be prepared... expect the unexpected is all I can say!  
  
No one talked about JT staying over at the Miller house the night before, keeping it between themselves. Trixie had felt a little sheepish when she thought about it later on, but JT assured her there was nothing to feel that way about, and he would do it again if need be. Of course that morning wasn't normal by any means...  
  
Trixie awoke to find JT next to her; smiling a little, she wriggled out from his arms and went to take her morning shower. Trent must've been through already, for the mirror was fogged up and the air was humid. So she shut the door behind her and ran the water to the temperature she wanted.  
  
When she finished, she realized in horror that she had forgotten to bring something to change into with her! Her eyes stayed wide and terrified a moment. Trent wouldn't hear her if she tried to yell at him to bring her something. So, finding the biggest towel she could, she wrapped it around herself and hoped to god JT was still asleep as she slipped in to grab her clothes and slip right back out. But if one thing didn't work out for her, something else didn't either...  
  
"Well, this certainly wasn't something I was expecting..." came JT's voice from behind her.   
  
It startled her so that she almost dropped her towel, but she kept a good enough grip on it that she didn't. "Uh..." she blushed, grabbing everything quickly, "forget you saw me, forget everything!" she then dashed out of the room.  
  
JT just laughed a little. He'd forget it for the day, but he'd get her about it later on....  
  
After she got out, carefully avoiding him, JT showered and put on the clothes he had in his backpack and they all headed off to school. There, all that was heard was lively chatter about the dance that was to be that night.  
  
Second period, Trent met up with Terri and they were talking about plans for the dance when Paige came up.  
  
"Guys, you know what I was thinking? Well, since we're all nearby and everything, Spinner and I were thinking that we could pick you guys up on the way in the minivan, and before we go, we can stop in to The Dot and get something to eat," she said.  
  
"Sounds like a good idea," Terri said, looking to Trent with sparkling eyes.  
  
Trent smiled, "Yeah, I was trying to figure out a way I was gonna pick her up!"  
  
Paige laughed and patted his arm, "Well, hun, now you don't have to worry!"  
  
The bell rang and everyone got to their seats. Mrs. Kwan called roll and discussed last night's homework with her students before she took it up.  
  
Today, Trent was sitting behind Terri, so he passed a note up to her along with the homework papers:  
  
Excited about tonight?  
  
Terri read this and smiled, writing back and passing back to him:  
  
You bet! I can't wait!  
  
Trent smiled a bit, writing in reply:  
  
I'm glad. I can't dance, but eh...  
  
Terri had to hold back a giggle and an "aww" when she replied:  
  
Aww, you poor thing! Well, we'll just have to teach you, huh?  
  
Trent almost laughed:  
  
Maybe...   
  
Terri grinned:  
  
No maybe's about it, buster!  
  
Trent had to hold back a laugh now:  
  
Buster???? What, now you're calling me a dog's name.... let's see if I dance with you now!  
  
Terri's jaw dropped and she smirked:  
  
We'll see....  
  
The bell then rang and Terri turned to Trent with a smirk, "We'll just see..."  
  
Trent smirked back, "Yeah, we will!"  
  
Terri laughed and gave him a quick kiss, "See ya later."  
  
Jimmy laughed, "What was all that about?"  
  
"Oh nothing... we'll just see if I dance with her tonight," Trent replied with a laugh.  
  
"Heh, play fighting already - yeah, you two are meant," Jimmy said.  
  
Trixie had regailed Emma with how Sean had come in the day before and even the next day, she was still impressed that he had finally moved on from Jay and everything he was doing.  
  
"Hey guys," Sean had said to them as he came in. They had said hi back and for once, Sean and Emma weren't shooting daggers at eachother with their eyes.  
  
But now, JT walked Trixie to her next class, the two talking about the dance.  
  
"Paige said something to me this morning about her and Spinner picking us up on the way and going to The Dot before," JT said.  
  
"Really? Well that's cool then," Trixie replied.  
  
"Oh yes, very, especially if I can get the back seats reserved for US," JT smirked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.  
  
"Hmmm... and what do you think would be going on in that back seat??" Trixie asked playfully.  
  
"Well..."  
  
Ellie then came up, "Hey Trix, I hate to interrupt the love-fest, but come on with me to class, I need to talk to you," she said, grabbing Trixie's arm and dragging her on to class.  
  
JT looked confused, but waved, "I'll see you later then!"  
  
"Yeah, later!" Trixie called back to him, following Ellie a little more now than she was being dragged.  
  
They got into the classroom and Paige looked from Ashley, whom she'd been talking to, to them.  
  
"This is certainly odd... no kiss for JT and Sean?" she asked.  
  
"No time at the moment," Ellie replied. She seemed worried.  
  
Ashley looked to Ellie, "Is this about what you were telling me earlier?"  
  
Paige and Trixie looked confused, but Paige asked the inevitable, "What's going on?"  
  
"Jay's pretty pissed off about Sean ratting out on him," Ellie said, "someone from his crew told Sean he'd better watch his back. He doesn't wanna go to the dance now, but I've been trying to tell him that he'd be safer in a crowd than at his house where anyone could find him and no one would know about it."  
  
Trixie could understand Ellie's worry, "So what're you going to do?"  
  
"Do my best to talk him into going to the dance anyway," Ellie replied, trying to sound less worried than everyone could tell she was, "besides, Jay's all talk, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about..."  
  
The bell rang right at that moment, and Paige, Ashley, and Trixie shared a look.  
  
Ellie had filled Marco in on the situation, so any time the guys were anywhere near Sean, they made themselves exclusively availible to "keep him company" to ease Ellie, as well as his, troubled mind.  
  
Later that evening, Paige got to Ashley, Hazel, Terri, and Trixie before they went home to start getting ready.  
  
"Why don't you guys all come over to my house and we'll get ready together; do eachother's hair and stuff?" Paige asked.  
  
"I'll catch up with you guys at the dance," Ashley replied, "I'm driving Toby and Kendra over there."  
  
The other girls thought this sounded like a good idea; Trixie told Trent of her plans and he managed to get a ride home from Paige when Trixie ran into the house to get her dress, makeup, shoes, and anything else she needed.  
  
The girls got ready together, talking about anything and everything, and how they hoped the night might turn out. Suddenly, Paige's doorbell rang and she looked at everyone curiously, "Hmm, wonder who that could be?..."  
  
She opened the door to find Jimmy there, "Hazel's here, isn't she?" he asked.  
  
Paige smiled and nodded, "Of course..." but then she saw the limo behind him and gaped, "oh my god! You got a -"  
  
"Shh! Get her for me, please," Jimmy asked with a slight smile. She nodded and went to do so.  
  
When Hazel got to the door, she was indeed surprised to see him.  
  
"Jimmy! I thought we were picking you up?" she said.  
  
"Well, it looks more like I'm picking you up..." Jimmy replied, moving asside.  
  
Her jaw dropped and her eyes sparkled when she saw the limo, "Oh my god, JIMMY!" she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, "This is too cool!"  
  
The other girls came to see what all the commotion was about and gushed at the limo as Hazel and Jimmy climbed into it, driving away.  
  
Spinner's mom dropped him off at that moment and so they all decided to go ahead and go and pick up the boys. It turned out JT was with Trent and they picked them up and went on to The Dot to meet up with Jimmy and Hazel.  
  
Trent pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Terri, "Here... it's not much, but I want ya to have it."  
  
She looked at him curiously, then to the little box he had given her; she opened it to find a pretty, store-bought necklace with a rhinestone-studded heart for the pendant.   
  
"Aww, Trent, it's so pretty, thank you so much," she said, "can you help me put it on?"   
  
He nodded and helped her put it on; when she turned back to him, he smiled, "Perfect."  
  
They got to The Dot and everyone was involved in lively chatter, not noticing a shadowy figure about a hundred feet from the minivan...  
  
Inside, more lively chatter ensued, and the couples amongst the group shared lasting glances at their one and only's.  
  
Hazel was gazing out the window for a moment, admiring the beautiful night. But suddenly, her eyes widened at what else she saw. But before going into a panic and scaring anyone, she stood up, "Trent, can I talk to you for a minute?"  
  
Trent looked a bit surprised, but agreed, "Yeah..." he replied, following her to the corner she led him to.  
  
Everyone stared curiously after them, but dismissed it and went back to talking.  
  
"Trent, Rick is outside near the van, I saw him!" Hazel said in a low, panick-stricken voice, "what're we gonna do?"  
  
Trent's face clouded over, "I'll show you..."  
  
He marched over to their table and whispered the situation to each of the guys; Hazel tried to stop him, grabbing his arm and hissing in his ear.  
  
"Trent, you're crazy if you go out there; he's psycho, think about what he did to Terri! He wouldn't hesitate to hurt someone else!"  
  
But Trent ignored her and the guys all walked out into the parking lot to see what they could find.  
  
"What's going on?" Terri asked, Trixie and Paige giving Hazel questioning looks.  
  
"The guys are just going to check on the van... I thought I saw a prowler," she replied, not wanting to get Terri upset.  
  
Meanwhile outside, JT, Trent, Jimmy, and Spinner all spread out, looking around the van for any damage and in the woods behind the parking lot for anyone.  
  
JT saw someone running off into the distance through those woods, "There he goes!" he yelled to the other guys.  
  
Trent was about to run after him, but Spinner caught him by the shoulder, "I know how you feel, we all wanna run after him - but we might as well let it go and just get on to the dance.  
  
"And let him get away?! Spin, no way!" Trent shot back increduously.  
  
"Dude, look, there's no way he can ever hurt Terri again, not with us around," Jimmy said, trying to reassure his friend, "you go on inside and get the girls to come on; Spin, you get the van started." He patted Trent's shoulder and went on toward the limo.  
  
The girls had bought the story about the prowler and didn't say much else about it after Spinner had assured them they had chased him off when they came out. But Terri noticed that Trent was much quieter now and didn't seem to want to do much. So she didn't make waves, she just let him be.  
  
They got to the dance and walked inside, everyone chorusing different opinions about the theme of the dance.  
  
"Ooh, I TOLD you it was gonna be stars!" Trent exclaimed.  
  
"Says who? I thought you were all up on the "Enchanted Night" thing?" Jimmy said with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Hey Paige, where's Dylan and Marco? I thought they were gonna come?" Trixie asked.  
  
"Nah, they decided to hang out at the house tonight, since Dylan graduated and everything," Paige replied, Spinner taking her arm and leading her to the dance floor.  
  
JT came up beside Trixie, the two of them looking around,"So, wanna go get something to drink?" he asked.  
  
"Sure," they replied, going over to the punch bowl where they bumped into Emma and Chris.   
  
"Hey guys!" Emma said cheerfully, "Just get in?"  
  
"Yeah," Trixie replied shyly, "you?"  
  
"Been here for a couple of minutes; had to do some last-minute things with Jack before he'd let me out the door!" Emma said, refering to her baby half brother.  
  
"He already sounds like you, Emma, won't let you out of his sight til he gets his point across," JT said with a smirk.  
  
"Haha, JT," Emma replied good-naturedly.  
  
In the meantime, Trent and Terri were mingling among their schoolmates when Trent saw Craig standing alone by the refreshments.  
  
"What's up?" he asked him, standing beside him.  
  
"Hey Trent; not much, just scoping out the floor for someone to dance with," Craig replied.  
  
Trent looked around for a moment and pointed at someone, "How 'bout her?"  
  
Craig looked in the direction that Trent pointed and then looked at him increduously, "What, is this a joke or something?"  
  
"No, Craig; I just think that maybe you two should put the past in the past and not be so cold," Trent replied, "move on."  
  
"I think that's what we're trying to do," Craig said simply.  
  
"Well... just think about it. Meanwhile, I'm going over here with my date," Trent replied, walking back over to Terri.  
  
Terri looked over and saw Trent coming her way and smiled brightly. 'Gosh I am so lucky...' she thought to herself. "Hey you!"  
  
"Hey; shall we dance?" Trent asked, holding out his hand to her as he stepped up to her.  
  
Terri smiled, "I believe we shall," she replied just as "DJ Raditch" came over the loudspeaker.  
  
"Alright guys, I'm gonna turn back the hands of time with this great song from the eighties, the years a lot of you were born in!" he said lamely, starting The Pretenders' "I'll Stand By You."  
  
JT gulped down the rest of his punch and held the small of Trixie's back.  
  
"Wanna dance?" he asked.  
  
Her eyes lit up when he asked her that, "I'd love to," she replied, the two of them walking out onto the floor. JT placed his hands nervously on her hips as she linked her hands behind his neck and looked into his eyes. His found hers and he smiled. She giggled and he looked confused.  
  
"What? Am I doing something wrong?" he asked.  
  
She giggled again, pulling his neck gently with her arms, "Come closer, JT, I won't bite," she said.  
  
He smiled and blushed a little, pulling her closer as well; she rested her head on his shoulder and he relaxed a little more with her.   
  
Trent and Terri were holding eachother close, talking about things between themselves; just as Trent was turning himself and Terri, he saw something that made him smile...  
  
Craig shuffled his feet and stared at them, not really knowing what he wanted to do; but what Trent had said to him seemed to have hit a nerve. So before he knew what he was doing, he found himself approaching Ashley.  
  
"Hey," he said, his mouth suddenly seeming like cotton.  
  
She looked surprised to see him there, "Hi."  
  
For a moment, they just stood there. Then Craig made his move...  
  
"So.... Ashley... would you like to dance with me?"  
  
She turned to him, even more surprised than before, but tried to decline, "I don't think so..."  
  
"Ashley, please? Even if it's just as friends... please, just dance with me?"  
  
She didn't know what it was, something in his eyes... his voice... whatever it was made her say, "Alright."  
  
He took her hand gently and led her to the dance floor and at first barely held her, not wanting to seem over-zelious. But after a moment of looking into eachother's eyes, Ashley surprised the both of them by stepping closer to Craig, allowing him to hold her close to him.  
  
Manny had seen all this from her corner where she was hiding; she had come to hang out with Emma and Chris, but they were dancing so she had no one to talk to, so she just watched the other couples. She spotted Ellie and Sean and smiled at how close they were and how good they were together. But seeing Sean made her also feel bad. 'Oh WHY did I have to te-' she was thinking to herself, but her thoughts were suddenly cut off when some people near the entrance gasped and someone shouted, "There's a guy with a gun in here!"  
  
Then another bone-chilling voice silenced the room that had gone into a panic, "Where is he?...." 


End file.
